Kaushik Gandhi hit a career-best 164 to help Tamil Nadu secure a first innings lead against Punjab. In Hubli, Shreyas Iyer ended his low streak of scores with an unbeaten 191 to take his team closer to Gujarat’s massive total of 437 runs. Mumbai were aided by a 187-run stand between Iyer and night-watchman Dhawal Kulkarni, who batted for 185 balls.
Group A, Round 7 - Day 3 Round-up:
Punjab vs Tamil Nadu in Nagpur: Punjab 1st inn 284/10 (Manan Vohara 73, Uday Kaul 56, Gitansh Khera 40*, Vignesh K 4/104) & 121/2 (Uday Kaul 43*, Manan Vohra 41) lead Tamil Nadu 354/10 (Kaushik Gandhi 164, Dinesh Karthik 54) by 51 runs
Kaushik Gandhi hit a career-best 164 as Tamil Nadu gained a first innings lead of 70 runs in the Group A clash against Punjab in Nagpur. Resuming on his overnight score of 75, Gandhi got to his century in 244 balls as Tamil Nadu went past the 300-run mark in the 101st over. Gandhi was dismissed by Gurkeerat Mann and the Tamil Nadu innings ended in the second session on 355. Punjab received an early jolt when Jiwanjot Singh was out for a duck, but Manan Vohra and Uday Kaul helped clear the deficit.
Gujarat vs Mumbai in Hubli: Gujarat 1st inn 437/10 in 160.1 overs (Priyank Panchal 232, Samit Gohil 87, M Juneja 48, Vishal Dabholkar 6/118) lead Mumbai 328/6 (Shreyas Iyer 191*, Dhawal Kulkarni 61, Jasprit Bumrah 4/49) by 109 runs
The battle for first innings lead in Hubli now heads into the fourth day as a resolute Mumbai offered strong resistance to recover from two wickets down for just five runs. Night-watchman Dhawal Kulkarni played a big role and played out 185 balls for his 61 as the fourth wicket stand with Shreyas Iyer added 187 runs.
Iyer, who had set the stage on fire in the last season, brushed aside his poor run with a morale-boosting knock. Known to score at a brisk pace, Iyer took his time and got to his century in 167 balls. He did hit two sixes and 18 boundaries and is nine short of a double hundred. With the specialist batsmen back in the hut, Gujarat would fancy their chances of bowling Mumbai out before they get 109 runs for an innings lead. Jasprit Bumrah added two more wickets of Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar to his kitty after taking two yesterday. Axar Patel picked up one wicket of Surya Kumar Yadav (18).
Madhya Pradesh vs Railways in New Delhi: Railways 1st inn 371/10 (Nitin Bhille 102*, S Wakaskar 62, Ankit Sharma 6/108) lead Madhya Pradesh 356/5 (Devendra Bundela 131*, Shubham Sharma 91, Avinash Yadav 3/90) by 15 runs
Madhya Pradesh batters seemed in no hurry on day three against Railways as they added 285 runs for the loss of just two wickets. Resuming on 71/3, Madhya Pradesh ended the day at 356/6 with Shubham Sharma on 91 and Bundela batting on 131 runs. The unbroken partnership worth 192 runs for the sixth wicket has taken Madhya Pradesh on the threshold of first innings lead. They now need just 15 runs and have five wickets to spare. Shubham will look to get his maiden first-class century on the fourth day.
