All-round Chawla gains first-innings points for UP

While some contests are set to produce results, there are matches that are heading towards a draw after day-three of the third round of Ranji Trophy Super League…

Group A

Himachal Pradesh 4 for 0 and 246 (Thakkar 88) need 246 runs with 10 wickets remaining v Mumbai 162 (Malik 6-33) and 335 for 77 dec (Agarkar 102*)

After the first innings fiasco, Mumbai has forged a stunning recovery as they have given HP a target of 250 for victory. An unbeaten 102 from Ajit Agarkar enabled Mumbai to declare their second innings at 335 and give a teasing target of 250 to the visitors at the BKC cricket ground in Mumbai. After putting up a 58-run fifth-wicket stand with skipper Wasim Jaffer (54), Agarkar got together with Iqbal Abdulla (52*) to bring up an unbeaten stand of 91 runs for the eight wicket. Mumbai, after conceding the first innings lead to HP, will look to register a victory by going for the kill on day-four.

Railways 297 for 8 (Cheluvaraj 88, D Mohanty 3-40) v Orissa

Heavy rains at Bhubaneshwar ensured no play was possible on day-three

Punjab 114 for 5 (Srinivas 3-41) and 228 (Dharmani 83, Balaji 3-32) trail Tamil Nadu 521 for 9 dec (Vijay 148, D Karthik 117) by 179 runs

Skipper Dinesh Karthik emulated M Vijay’s centurion effort to take Tamil Nadu to a commandable position in the Amritsar contest. After piling a lead of 293 over the hosts, TN removed five of their top six batsmen, leaving them behind by 179 runs at the end of day-three. Aushik Srinivas and Ravichandran Ashwin, who shared first five wickets between them, will look to get the remaining batsmen out as early as possible to fetch maximum points of an outright win. The top scorer of first innings, Pankaj Dharmani is still at the crease with Gaurav Gambhir and they will look to stretch for a draw.

Gujarat 263 for 4 (P Patel 105) lead Hyderabad 236 (Anirudh 61, Trivedi 5-39) by 27 runs

In the contest that has been truncated by rain since day-one, Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel has added another ton to his first-class kitty. On day-three, the Hyderabad innings folded for 236, as the three standing wickets added 24 to their overnight score of 209 for 7. Gujarat has secured the points for first innings lead as the game is heading towards a no result.

Group B

Maharashtra 266 for 7 (Bhosale 88) trail Saurashtra 544 for 3 dec (Pujara 204*) by 278 runs

After destroying the Maharashtra bowling attack with two centuries and a double hundred, Saurashtra have reduced the visitors to 266 for 7 at the end of day-three. Ravindra Jadeja displayed great all-round skills as he celebrated his century with two wickets. He inflicted a huge blow on Maharashtra when he got rid of the solid looking Rohan Bhosale for 82, which is the top score of Maharashtra innings. With the match poised for a draw, Saurashtra are sure to get the first innings points.

Baroda 60 for 3 (B Kumar 3-18) and 234 (Irfan 59, Chawla 4-47) lead Uttar Pradesh 240 (Chawla 65, M Patel 4-61) by 54 runs

Uttar Pradesh barely managed to overhaul Baroda’s first innings score of 234, thanks to a quick-fire 65-run knock from Piyush Chawla. With Baroda three down in their second innings into the last day, the match is headed towards a draw.

Karnataka 523 for 9 (Verma 157, Pawan 134, Gautam 108*, Lahiri 5-157) lead Bengal 324 (Banerjee 107) by 199 runs

Karnataka attained a huge first innings lead over Bengal as overnight batsmen Amit Verma and KB Pawan brought up big hundreds. As pacers Ranadeb Bose and Ashok Dinda dismissed the top order batsmen, off-spinner Surashish Lahiri toiled hard for 45 overs to return figures of 5-157.