Young pacer Tushar Deshpande recorded his career-best figures of six for 70 to help Mumbai earn a sizeable first innings lead against Railways on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in New Delhi on Saturday.
Deshpande's second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket saw Mumbai dismiss Railways for 307 in their first innings thereby taking a 104-run lead.
At stumps, Mumbai were 57 for two, consolidating their overall lead to 161 going into the final day of the opening round clash.
However, credit should be given to Railways lower-order batsmen, who were instrumental in taking the team past 300-run mark and eating into Mumbai's time to register an outright win.
It will be interesting if Mumbai captain Dhawal Kulkarni opts for a sporting declaration in his bid to get full points from the match.
Starting the day on 115 for six, Arindam Ghosh (71) and Harsh Tyagi (39) added 58 runs in 28.4 overs for the seventh wicket.
Ghosh was trapped leg-before by left-arm spinner Karsh Kothari, leaving Railways reeling at 173 for seven.
But Avinash Yadav (48) and Tyagi added another 65 runs for the eighth wicket before both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession by Deshpande, who completed his five-wicket haul after the second new ball was taken.
At 241 for nine, Madhur Khatri (29) and Anureet Singh (38) frustrated Mumbai further as they added 66 runs for the final wicket to take Railways past the 300-run mark before Deshpande wrapped up the innings with his sixth wicket.
Having ensured at least three points by virtue of first innings lead, Mumbai didn't force pace in their second innings reaching 57 for two in 25 overs. Left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar (24 not out) took his time and has Siddhesh Lad (13 not out) for company.
Brief Scores:
At Delhi: Mumbai 411 and 57 for 2 (Akhil Herwadkar 24 batting) vs Railways 307 (Arindam Ghosh 71, Avinash Yadav 48, Tushar Deshpande 6/70)
At Pune: Maharashtra 343 vs Vidarbha 120 and (f/o) 287/3 (Faiz Fazal 116 not out, Wasim Jaffer 63).
At Vadodara: Baroda 290 and 161/7 (Pinal Shah 71, Rush Kalaria 4/29) vs Gujarat 1st Innings 302 (Rujul Bhatt 76, Manprit Juneja 47, Samit Gohel 63).
At Rajkkot: Chhattisgarh 315/8 (Harpreet Singh 60, Jaydev Unadkat 7/66) vs Saurashtra 475
Rajasthan set J&K daunting target of 395
Rajasthan set a target of 395 for Jammu and Kashmir in their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy Game on the third day of the encounter in Jaipur.
After putting up 379 in the first innings, Rajasthan bundled out Jammu and Kashmir for 204 and later declared the second innings for 219 for four, for an overall lead of 394.
Jammu and Kashmir started from their overnight score of 186 for seven but were able to add only 18 runs to their tally and eventually were bowled out for 204.
For Rajasthan, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (5-59) starred with the ball as he picked up a five-wicket haul.
In their second innings, Rajasthan opener A V Gautam top-scored with 68, while middle-order batsman Robin Bist (44) and Tajinder Singh Dhillon (49 not out) made notable contributions.
However, their first innings hero Chetan Bist, who had scored 159, fell cheaply in the second outing.
At stumps on day 3, Jammu and Kashmir were 34/0, and they face an arduous task on the fourth and final, with another 361 runs needed for an outright victory.
Brief Scores:
At Jaipur: Rajasthan 379 and 219/4 decl (A V Gautam 68) vs Jammu and Kashmir 204 and 34/0.
At Bhubaneswar: Odisha 324 and 50/1 (Govinda Poddar 22 not out) vs Haryana 442 all out (Himanshu Rana 164, Chetan Bishnoi 75).
At Agartala: Tripura 360 and 110/0 (U U Bose 64 not out, Bishal Gose 44 not out) vs Services 238 all out (Aanshul Gupta 62, Vikas Hathwala 51).
At Ranchi: Jharkhand 344 and 44/1 (Ishan Kishan 31 not out) vs Assam 298 all out (Gokul Sharma 92, Sibsankar Roy 70).
At Kanpur: Goa 152 and 123/8 (Snehal Kauthankar 28, Saurabh Kumar 4-31) vs Uttar Pradesh 564/4 dec (Aksh Deep Nath 194, Mohammed Saif 126, Priyam Garg 117 not out).
Rain plays spoilsport on 3rd day of TN vs MP match
Rain
Play was called off at 3.45 pm local timeafter several inspections without a ball being bowled.
Tamil Nadu was zero for no loss in two overs at stumps on Friday in reply to Madhya Pradesh's first innings score of 393, built on Ranjit Patidar's brilliant 196.
Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman M Mohammed, who took a hat-trick, scalped four wickets each to restrict MP, who looked set for a huge total at one point.
Mohammed's hat-trick included the wickets of Yash Dubey, Patidar and Mihir Hirwani.
Brief scores:
At Dindigul: Madhya Pradesh 393 in 157.4 overs (Rajat Patidar 196, Aryaman Vikram Birla 51, Naman Ojha 45, R Ashwin 4 for 85, M Mohammed 4 for 98) vs TN 0 for no loss.
At Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 495 for 6 dec in 164 overs (Sachin Baby 147, V A Jagadeesh 113 not out, Jalaj Saxena 58, Sanju Samson 53) vs Hyderabad 30 for 1 in 21 overs.
At Amtar: Bengal 380 all out in 116.1 overs (Manoj Tiwary 55, Anustup Majumdar 52, PP Jaswal 5 for 81) vs Himachal Pradesh 302 for 9 in 107 overs (A K Bains 86, P Pramanik 4 for 54).
At Vizag: Punjab 414 all out in 156.2 overs (Sanvir Singh 110, Mayank Markande 68 not out, Mandeep Singh 68) vs Andhra Pradesh 327 for 5 in 116 overs (Ricky Bhui 150 not out, K S Bharat 76).
Sikkim rout Manipur inside three days
Manipur captain Yashpal Singh's century went in vain as Sikkim cruised to an innings and 27-run win against Manipur in a Ranji Trophy Plate Group encounter in Kolkata
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Sikkim, who lost all their eight matches in the National One Dayers, showed remarkable turnaround with their three outstation recruits, as they secured seven points, including a bonus, wrapping up the match inside three days.
Uttarakhand and Nagaland also registered bonus point victories over their respective opponents while Meghalaya secured full points against Arunachal Pradesh as all the Plate Group matches got over inside three days.
Having shot out for a paltry 79, Manipur resumed day three with 170 runs in arrears in their second innings as Yashpal and Lakhan Rawat made Sikkim wait for their maiden Ranji win with a 112-run third wicket partnership.
But once Lakhan was trapped leg before by Padam Limboo, it all went downhill for Manipur as they folded for 266 in 80.2 overs with outstation recruits -- left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma (4/55) and pacer Ishwar Choudhary (3/52) running through the middle order.
In Dimapur, former Karnataka all-rounder Arbar Kazi was the star as he followed up his unbeaten double century with a five-wicket haul (5/13) to help the hosts post a huge innings and 33-run win over Mizoram.
Kazi, who finished with a match tally of nine wickets, broke the back of Mizoram middle-order to bundle them out for 91 in their second essay.
Brief Scores:
At Kolkata: Manipur 79 and 266 (Yashpal Singh 132, Lakhan Rawat 70; Bipul Sharma 4/55) vs Sikkim 372.
At Dehradun: Bihar 60 and 169 vs Uttarakhand 227 and four for no loss.
At Shillong: Arunachal Pradesh 166 & 131(Kshitiz Sharma 41,Gurinder Singh 4/21, Abhay Negi 4/39) vs Meghalaya 141 and 157/3 (Punit Bisht 66, Yogesh Nagar 55 not out).
At Dimapur: Mizoram 106 and 91 (Taruwar Kohli 48 not out; Arbar Kazi 5/13, Rachit Bhatia 2/12, Tahmeed Rahman 2/19) vs Nagaland 530/8 dec.
