Ranji Trophy: Shami's fiery spell drives Bengal toward innings win

India pacer Mohammed Shami's five-wicket burst put Bengal on the verge of an outright victory with bonus point against Services on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match in Kalyani, West Bengal on Saturday.

Shami produced a fine 16-3-51-5 effort, running through the opposition batting lineup, as Services were left reeling on 231 for eight with another 102 runs in deficit.

Bengal had earlier piled up a massive 519 in their first essay and shot Services out for a mere 186 to take a huge lead of 333 runs.

Shami accounted for Services' opener Shubham Rohilla (0) and No. 3 Ravi Chauhan (8) for initial breakthroughs, and then got rid of Rajat Paliwal (83), Vineet Dhankar (13) and Arjun Sharma (2) to complete his five-for.

In Nadiad, Gujarat were staring at a heavy defeat after they folded for 347 in the second innings, setting Railways 99 to win with a day's play left.

Railways, who shot out the hosts for 175 in the first innings, had taken a lead of 249 runs riding on Zubair Khan's 104 and fifties from Ravi Singh (98), captain Bhargav Merai (55) and Karn Sharma (60).

Despite a much-improved show with the bat in the second innings wherein Jaymeet Patel hit 101 and Urvil Patel scored a strokeful 64, Gujarat's lead was restricted to 98 runs with Karn taking 5/87.

Hosts Assam fought hard on Day Three to take their overall lead to 147 runs, reaching 136/7 in second innings against Haryana.

Assam took a slender lead of 11 runs as they bowled out Haryana for 236 after posting 247 in the first innings, despite visiting batters Yuvraj Singh (84) and Ankit Kumar (50) notching up their fifties.

Mukhtar Hussain provided a much-needed late impetus to Assam with a strokeful 40 not out (46 balls; 4 sixes, 2 fours).

However, Tripura were placed slightly better with an overall lead of 212 runs, reaching 247 for eight in their second innings against Uttarakhand.

Tripura had conceded a lead of 35 runs as Uttarakhand made 301 in response to the hosts' 266 in their first essay.

Sentu Sarkar was batting on 50 not out as Tripura held their fort strongly until the end of play despite Manisankar Murasingh's 6/48.

Brief scores:

In Kalyani: Bengal 519 lead Services 186 in 53.5 overs (Nakul Sharma 85 not out; Mohammed Shami 2/37, Suraj Jaiswal 4/51, Akash Deep 3/50) & 231/8 in 61 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 62, Rajat Paliwal 83; Mohammed Shami 5/51, Mukesh Kumar 2/42) by 102 runs.

In Nadiad: Gujarat 175 & 347 in 89.4 overs (Jaymeet Patel 101, Urvil Patel 64; Karn Sharma 5/87) lead Railways 424 by 98 runs.

In Fulung: Assam 247 & 136/7 in 53 overs (Mukhtar Hussain 40 not out; Aman Kumar 3/12) lead Haryana 236 in 71.3 overs (Yuvraj Singh 84, Ankit Kumar 50; Mukhtar Hussain 4/72) by 147 runs.

In Agartala: Tripura 266 & 247/8 in 84 overs (Sridam Paul 48; Sentu Sarkar 50 not out; Mayank Mishra 4/79) lead Uttarakhand 301 in 88.2 overs (Lakshya Raichandani 65, Jagadeesha Suchith 86, Saurabh Rawat 80; Manisankar Mura Singh 6/48, Abhijit Sarkar 3/64) by 212 runs.

TN in command against Odisha; Jharkhand on verge of win over UP

Tamil Nadu put themselves in a great position to win their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Odisha, with opener Athish SR making a fine half-century to give the visitors an overall lead of 454 runs on the third day in Bhubaneswar.

Athish added 76 runs to his overnight 12 before he was dismissed by Govinda Poddar. Tamil Nadu were 154 for 5 when Athish got out after resuming the day on 26 for 1. Athish faced 162 balls and hit nine fours and three sixes during his knock.

Guruswamy Ajitesh (49) and Sai Kishore (40) made useful contributions later on to take TN to 316 all out from 88.2 overs.

Badal Biswal was the pick of Odisha bowlers with figures of 3/56.

In reply, Odisha, chasing a target of 455 for an improbable win, were 47 for 2 at stumps with captain Subhranshu Senapati not out on 36. Odisha still trail by 407 runs.

In Lucknow, Jharkhand are certain to notch an outright win after reducing Uttar Pradesh to 69 for 7 in 23 overs in their second innings. Uttar Pradesh were following on and they still trail by 316 runs with just three second innings wickets in hand.

Jharkhand, who had declared their first innings at 561 for 6, had bowled Uttar Pradesh out for 176 in their first innings.

On Friday, Baroda beat Nagaland by an innings and 6 runs inside two days in Vadodara.

Brief Scores:

In Bhubaneswar: Tamil Nadu 286 and 316 all out in 88.2 overs (Athish SR 88, Guruswamy Ajitesh 49; Badal Biswal 3/56) lead Odisha 148 and 47 for 2 in in 15.3 overs by 407 runs.

In Lucknow: Jharkhand 1st innings 561/6 declared leads Uttar Pradesh 176 and 69 for 7 in 23 overs (Aryan Juyal 24; Saurabh Shekhar 2/6) by 316 runs.

In Anantapur: Vidarbha 295 and 191 all out in 55.2 overs (Aman Mokhade 51, Yash Rathod 56; Kavuri Saiteja 4/28) lead Andhra 228 and 93 for 1 in 26 overs (Shaik Rasheed 50 batting; Nachiket Bhute 1/21).

Chandigarh trounce Kerala by an innings and 92 runs to register season's first win

Chandigarh bowlers tore through Kerala batting line-up for a second time to carry their side to an emphatic innings and 92-run victory on the third day of a Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Mangalapuram, Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala resumed from overnight 21 for two and required to score 256 more runs to avoid an innings defeat.

But off-spinner Vishu Kashyap (3/41) and pacer Rohit Dhanda (4/38) wreaked havoc as the home side was bowled out for 185.

For Kerala, Vishnu Vinod (56) and Salman Nizar (53) added 63 runs for a steady fifth wicket stand, but it only delayed the inevitable.

The result helped Chandigarh to grab seven points, including a bonus point for an innings win, and move up to seventh in the group with 8 points.

Kerala also have 8 points, but were pushed down to eighth because Chandigarh have a win under their belt.

MP in charge

At Alur (1) grounds, Himanshu Mantri made an unbeaten 89 off 203 balls as Madhya Pradesh established an overall lead of 336 runs against Karnataka at stumps on Day 3.

Mantri added 58 runs for the second wicket with Shubham Sharma after Yash Dubey departed in the early stages of MP's second innings.

But their innings descended into a mini-chaos as they lost captain Rajat Patidar and Venkatesh Iyer in quick succession to get reduced to 99 for four from 96 for one.

But with Mantri solid at one end, MP managed to swell their lead past 300, and put the match possibly beyond Karnataka, whose best hope out of this game might be a draw and one point.

Brief Scores:

At Mangalapuram: Kerala: 139 and 185 all out in 48 overs (Vishnu Vinod 56, Salman Nizar 53; Rohit Dhanda 4/38, Vishu Kashyap 3/41) lost to Chandigarh: 416 by an innings and 92 runs.

At Alur: Madhya Pradesh: 323 and 204/6 in 71 overs (Himanshu Mantri 89 batting; Vidhyadhar Patil 3/39) vs Karnataka: 191 all out.

At Pune: Goa: 209 and 210/6 in 73 overs (Abhinav Tejrana 109, Darshan Misal 52 batting; HA Walunj 3/45) vs Maharashtra: 350 all out in 106 overs (Saurabh Nawale 105).