While Bengal are set to pull off a win against Assam and consolidate their position in the table (currently third), Karnataka need to pull off a win against Maharashtra to give themselves a chance to qualify. Having conceded the first innings lead, the defending champions need 232 to win with nine wickets in hand.
Team Rajasthan finished the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season on a winning note by beating Odisha in the last round of the league phase.
Here is the brief recap of Day 3, Round 9:
Assam vs Bengal: Assam 1st inn 143/10 (T Singh 50, M Kumar 3/20, P Ojha 3/33); F/o Assam 2nd inn 72/2 (PK Das 28*, A Gani 2/34) Trail by 229 runs.
After Ashoke Dinda left Assam reeling on one for four on the second day, Pragyan Ojha and pacer Mukesh Kumar claimed three wickets each on the third day to bowl the hosts out for 143. Asked to follow on, the home team lost two wickets to Bengal's off-spinner Amir Gani and were trailing by 229 runs at the end of day's play.
Maharashtra vs Karnataka: Maha 2nd inn 260/10 (S Mundhe 81, R Tripathi 78, Vinay Kumar 4/71, S Arvind 3/59, S Gopal 2/26); Kar 2nd inn 61/1 (R Uthappa 25*, M Agarwal 23*, N Dhumal 1/34) Need 232 to win.
Karnataka captain, Vinay Kumar trapped Kedar Jadhav lbw to begin the proceedings for the day as Karnataka pursue a victory to give themselves a chance to reach the knock-outs. While the pacer finished with a four-for, S Arvind had took three wickets while Shreyas Gopal chipped in with two to bowl Maharashtra out for 260. It was R Tripathi's 78 and Shrikant Mundhe's 81-run knock lower down the order that has helped Maharashtra build on the first innings lead and set the defending champions a stiff 293-run target.
The visitors were 61 for one at stumps with Mayank Agarwal and Robin Uthappa in the middle.
Team Rajasthan vs Odisha: Raj 2nd inn 231/8 (P Yadav 59, S Dobal 52, B Mohanty 3/65) Team Rajasthan win by 2 wickets.
Chasing 230 to win, Rajasthan resumed their innings 79 for two on the third morning. While Puneet Yadav made 75-ball 59 the rest of the middle-order too made valuable contributions as the hosts closed in on the target. Experienced campaigner, Rajat Bhatia scored a crucial 31 runs off 96 balls while Siddharth Dobal made 52 off as many balls to keep the chase on course. Dishant Yagnik then took the team across the line with captain Pankaj Singh to help the team finish the Ranji Trophy season on a winning note.
Vidarbha vs Haryana: Har 1st inn 241/10 (N Saini 67, S Yadav 50, R Jangid 4/44, A Sarvate 4/50); F/o Har 2nd inn 66/2 (N Saini 42, R Jangid 2/17) Trail by 197 runs.
Spinners bowled Haryana out for 241 in the first innings to enforce the follow-on in Nagpur. Left-arm spinners Ravi Jangid and Aditya Sarvate returned to claim four wickets each after propelling Vidarbha to a massive score with centuries earlier in the match. Off-spinner Akshay Wakhare too claimed two wickets to help keep the home team on top. Jangid then added two more scalps to his tally before the day's play ended to push the visitors further on the backfoot. Haryana, who are facing relegation to Group C were trailing by 197 runs at stumps.
Follow the stars:
Bengal captain, Manoj Tiwary bowled two overs for five runs in Assam's second innings.
Ashoke Dinda bowled three overs for 14 runs in Assam's second innings on the third day.
Abhimanyu Mithun bowled 18 overs for 48 runs in Maharashtra's second innings.
