A round-up of day three action from the Ranji Trophy Super League games across the country on Friday.
Mumbai crush Gujarat by an innings and 167 runs
Mumbai thrashed an unimpressive Gujarat by an innings and 167 runs with a complete day to spare to pocket full six points from their four-day Group A match in Valsad.
Mumbai, who dominated the proceedings from the very first ball after deciding to bat, completed a comprehensive victory with both the batting line up and bowling department sticking to its respective roles with perfection.
The hosts, resuming at overnight score of 121 for two, were eventually bundled out for a meagre 162 in reply to Mumbai's mammoth first innings total 544.
Apart from Niraj Patel (61) and skipper Parthiv Patel (33) no other Gujarat batsmen posed any resistance before the Mumbai bowlers.
Veteran Ajit Agarkar wreaked havoc as he ran though the middle-order, picking up four wickets by giving away just 35 runs from his 18 overs. Abhishek Nayar and Dhawal Kulkarni also chipped in with three and two wickets respectively.
As a result of this win, Mumbai now have 20 points from five matches and are looking set to top the group.
Brief scores: Mumbai (1st innings): 544 for 3 declared Gujarat: 162 & 215 (Niraj Patel 61, Sunny Patel not out 58; Iqbal Abdulla 5-58, Ajit Agarkar 4-35).
Tamil Nadu struggle against Dinda on rain-curtailed third day
Ashok Dinda made an impressive comeback after missing a couple of matches due to typhoid as hosts Tamil Nadu could manage only 126 losing four wickets in the process against Bengal at stumps on the third day of their fifth round Group A encounter being played at the Guru Nanak College ground in Chennai.
In-form Subramanium Badrinath (33 batting, 3x4) was at the crease along with K Vasudevdas (21 batting 1x4) after Dinda (three for 33) rocked the top-order accounting for opener Abhinav Mukund (41, 81 balls, 2x4) and KB Arun Karthik (10) and rival captain Dinesh Karthik (0).
After it was a complete washout for the first two days, 41 overs of play was possible on the day as Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary elected to field keeping overcast conditions in mind.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 126-4 in 41 overs (S Badrinath 33 batting, K Vasudevdas 21 batting, A Dinda 3-33, R Bose 1-34) vs Bengal.
Himachal eye upset win over Karnataka
Manvinder Bisla and captain Paras Dogra shared an unbeaten 101-run stand after early hiccups as Himachal Pradesh eye an upset victory over Karnataka in their Group B match in Dharmasala.
Chasing 286 runs for victory, wicket-keeper Bisla (54 not out) and Paras Dogra (32 not out) steadied the Himachal ship with a 101-run sixth wicket stand that came of 137 balls after the home team lost half of its side for 52 runs.
At stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day affair, Himachal were 153 for five in 40 overs and still needing 133 runs for an outright win.
Right-arm pacer Abhimanyu Mithun starred with the ball for Karnataka accounting for three Himachal batsmen giving away 51 runs, while Aditya B Sagar and Sreenath Arvind scalped a wicket each.
Earlier resuming at the overnight score of 73 for four, Karnataka rode on young Manish Pandey's brilliant 112 to score 230 in their second essay before being bowled out in 71 overs.
Brief Scores: Karnataka: 254 and 230 (Manish Pandey 112; Mohinderraj Sharma 4-52, Rishi Dhawan 4-40) vs Himachal Pradesh: 199 and 153 for five in 40 overs (Manvinder Bisla 54 not out, Paras Dogra 32 not out; Abhimanyu Mithun 3-51).
Gony, Ladda dent Orissa reply
Manpreet Gony and Sarabjit Ladda shared six wickets between them as Punjab are all set to take a huge first innings lead against Orissa in their match in Bhubaneswar.
Resuming at 25 for no loss, Orissa ended the day three at 216 for seven in reply to Punjab's huge 550 for seven declared.
Gony (3-57) and Ladda (3-44) never let Orissa batsmen built a big partnership and kept taking wickets at regular intervals to leave the hosts trailing by a huge 334-run margin.
Had it nor been a 48-run stand for the seventh wicket between Subhrajit Sahoo (batting 43) and Alok Sahoo (28), Orissa would have been in deeper trouble.
Brief Scores: Punjab (1st innings): 550-7 declared vs Orissa (1st innings): 216 for seven in 97 overs (S Sahoo 43, B Samantray 33; M Goby 3-57, S Ladda 3-44).
Hat-trick by Pawan, Delhi eye outright win
Left-arm seamer Pawan Suyal's hat-trick was the highlight of the third day's play as Delhi are firmly on sight of an outright win against Assam in a Group A match at the Roshanara ground.
Replying to Delhi's commanding total of 472, Assam were all-out for 239 in their first innings trailing by 233 runs.
Following on, they fared a shade better than their first essay ending the day at 183 for three with veteran opener Dhiraj Jadhav batting on 69 in company of Gokul Sharma (25 batting).
Brief Scores: Delhi 472 vs Assam 239 and 183-3.
Joginder, Rana script Haryana's 9-wicket win over UP
Medium pacer Joginder Sharma completed a six-wicket haul as Haryana notched up a moral-boosting nine-wicket victory over table-toppers Uttar Pradesh in their Group B match in Ghaziabad.
Joginder, who took three wickets yesterday, added three more scalps to his name today to bowl out Uttar Pradesh for 174 in their second innings on the penultimate day of the four-day encounter at the Mohan Meakins Cricket Stadium.
Haryana openers Nitin Saini (22) and Rahul Dewan (34 not out) then overhauled the 70-run target in 20 overs to bag six valuable points for the visitors and zoom to the top of the table.
Resuming at 68 for three, Tanmay Srivastava (60) notched up a well-made half century enroute to a 65-run fifth wicket partnership with Parvinder Singh (58 not out) before Sachin Rana (3-27) and Joginder brought their downfall.
Chasing 70 for victory, Saini and Dewan had no problems as the duo stitched a 45-run opening partnership before the former was caught by skipper Mohammad Kaif off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 16th over.
Brief Score: Uttar Pradesh: 167 and 174 (TM Srivastava 60, Parvinder Singh 58 not out; Joginder Sharma 6-59, Sachin Rana 3-27) vs Haryana: 272 and 72 (R Dewan 34 not out; B Kumar 1-20).
