In Raipur, Akhil Herwadkar kept the match against MP precariously poised with an unbeaten 136 as he anchored the Mumbai innings. Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund kept his team in the fray with a 154-run knock against Uttar Pradesh.
Bengal are in a commanding position against Punjab after claiming a solid first innings lead while Gujarat will be looking to pull off a win against Railways in Lahili. While Gujarat need six wickets to win, Railways need 330 runs.
Group A, Round 3 – Day 3 Round-up:
Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh in Raipur: MP 1st inn 445/10 in 160 overs (R Patidar 106, S Sharma 83*, V Gohil 3/87, T Deshpande 3/101); Mum 1st inn 290/5 in 107 overs (A Herwadkar 136*, A Tare 80, I Pandey 3/84) Trail by 155 runs.
Facing the mountainous ask, Akhil Herwadkar continued to anchor the innings on the penultimate day of the ongoing match as Mumbai look to overhaul the MP total 445 and seize a first innings lead. After resuming the innings on the third morning with Shreyas Iyer, he lost his partner with the team on 56. Suryakumar Yadav then joined the opener in an attempt to stabilize the innings. The pair had stitched a 67-run partnership when the middle-order batsman was sent back for 41 by Ankit Sharma. Captain Aditya Tare, who then came to crease help shape the innings as the pair built a 155-run stand until the wicketkeeper-batsman was trapped lbw by Ishwar Pandey.
Herwadkar continued to rally on and had taken the team to 290 for five with Tushar Deshpande until stumps.
Bengal vs Punjab in Bilaspur: Bengal 1st inn 404/10 in 120.3 overs (P Shaw 55, S Sharma 4/96, V Choudhary 3/75); Punjab 1st inn 271/10 in 81.3 overs (S Sharma 46*, G Khera 38, A Dinda 5/58, A Kuila 5/76); Bengal 2nd inn 182/5 in 53 overs (M Tiwary 61*, P Shaw 29, S Kaul 3/30) Lead by 315 runs
After Punjab resumed on 168 for four, Ashok Dinda and debutant A Kuila bowled the Yuvraj Singh-led team out for 271 to help Bengal to a solid first innings lead. Both bowlers finished with five-wicket hauls as they set the game up for the side.
The Punjab attack led by Siddharth Kaul (three for 30) then left Bengal on 182 for five at stumps in their second outing. Skipper Manoj Tiwary was batting on 61 at the end of day’s play as he extended Bengal’s lead to 315 runs.
Railways vs Gujarat in Lahili: Gujarat 1st inn 187/10 in 56.4 overs (P Patel 61, D Bansal 6/46, A Singh 2/55); Railways 1st inn 124/10 in 43.5 overs (K Sharma 48, M Patel 5/35, R Kalaria 2/36); Gujarat 2nd inn 437/7 decl in 103.3 overs (M Juneja 66, C Gandhi 60, K Sharma 2/68); Railways 2nd inn 171/4 in 61 overs (M Rawat 52*, S Wakaskar 34, R Kalaria 2/26) Need 330 to win
After P Panchal put Gujarat in a commanding position on the second day, the middle-order comprising of Parthiv Patel (53), Manprit Juneja (66), Chirag Gandhi (60) and Rush Kalaria (43) lower down the order helped build on the foundation and set the opposition a formidable target. Building on the narrow first innings lead, Gujarat piled on 437 for seven before declaring their innings and set Railways a 501-run target.
Rush Kalaria then claimed two wickets while Karan Patel and Ishwar Choudhary picked a wicket each to leave Railways tottering on 171 for four at stumps on the third day.
Uttar Pradesh vs Tamil Nadu in Dharamsala: UP 1st inn 524/10 in 158 overs (S Singh 187, E Dwivedi 60, S Kumar 51, T Natarjan 4/83); TN 1st inn 398/6 in 110 overs (A Mukund 154, Dinesh Karthik 73, B Indrajith 70*, A Rajpoot 2/91) Trail by 126 runs
Skipper Abhinav Mukund held up one end with a well compiled 154 as he Tamil Nadu look to overhaul UP’s first innings total of 524. While the skipper stood stoically at one end his efforts well ably complemented by Dinesh Karthik (73) and Baba Indrajith. His 132-run stand for the fourth wicket with the wicketkeeper-batsman helped keep the innings in fray. While Umang Sharma accounted for Dinesh to end the stand, 50 runs later Kuldeep Yadav claimed the TN captain was sent back by to leave the team on 326 for five. Indrajith then saw the team through to the end of day’s play and was batting on 70 at stumps.
