While Mayank Agarwal posted his maiden triple hundred to put Karnataka in a commanding position, Anmolpreet Singh’s maiden double ton has tipped the balance in Punjab’s favour against Chhattisgarh. Gujarat, Mumbai, Kerala are in an advantageous position at the end of Day 3 of Round 4 in Ranji Trophy 2017-18.
Here are the highlights of the day:
Group ARailways vs Hyderabad: After dominating with the bat, Hyderabad’s bowling attack put their side in a commanding position against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Having posted 474 for nine, the visitors bowled the hosts out for 246 and enforced a follow on. At 13 without loss in the second innings, Railways were trailing by 215 runs when play ended for the day.
After Railways resumed their first innings on 35 for one, Akash Bhandari dealt the first blow of the day by accounting for Nitin Bhille leaving the hosts’ on 93 for two. 32 two runs later, Arindam Gosh and Shivkant Shukla were dismissed in successive overs by Mehdi Hasan and T Ravi Teja leaving Railways on 125 for four. Teja and co then ploughed through the rest of the lineup to help Hyderabad to a 228-run first innings lead.
Teja claimed 5/49 while Bhandari and Hasan took two wickets each while Ravi Kiran picked one to help Hyderabad enforce a follow on and press for victory.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/46Delhi vs Uttar Pradesh: UP claimed a first innings lead by bowling Delhi out for 269 after resuming on 228 for six. Building on the 22-run first innings lead, UP were 224 for seven at Stumps on Day 3. The Suresh Raina-led team were leading by 246 runs when play ended for the day.
Surabh Kumar finished with a four-for while Imitiaz Ahmed picked three as they bowled Delhi out earlier in the day.
Ishant Sharma then claimed two wickets while N Saini picked one to leave UP on two for the loss of three wickets. However, Akshdeep Nath rebuilt the innings with Rinku Singh (64 off 80) after they were left on 21 for four. Batting on 110*, the middle-order batsman took UP to stumps with Imitiaz at the other end.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/47Maharashtra vs Karnataka: Mayank Agarwal’s maiden triple hundred complemented by Karun Nair’s century helped Karnataka raise a mountainous total. Agarwal was unbeaten on 304 when the visitors declared their innings on 628 for five. With a solid lead of 383, Karnataka were in a commanding position when they declared their innings.
Abhimanyu Mithun then claimed two wickets while Stuart Binny and Ronit More took a wicket each to leave Maharashtra on 135 for four at stumps.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/48Group B
J & K vs Kerala: When play resumes on the fourth day, Kerala need three wickets to win while J & K require 182 runs.
After resuming their second innings on 45 for one, Kerala were bowled out for 191 by the Parvez Rasool-led attack. The J&K skipper claimed five wickets while Amir Aziz picked three.
However, despite the modest second innings score, building on the first innings lead Kerala set J & K a stiff 238-run target. Nidheesh MD, Sijomon Joseph and Jalaj Saxena then claimed two wickets each as they maintained a stranglehold on the J & K lineup and pushed the opposition on the back foot. They had left J & K were tottering on 56 for seven when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/43Gujarat vs Haryana: Gujarat are on the brink of their third successive win of the season. After setting Haryana a 361-run target, Gujarat’s spinners had left the visitors reeling on 94 for seven at stumps.
Earlier after resuming the innings on 110 for two, Gujarat declared their innings on 281 for nine. Priyank Panchal was the top-scorer with 67 while B Merai scored 66. Even as A Hooda (4/79) and Co continued to strike at regular intervals, the Gujarat lineup made valuable contributions to set Haryana a stiff target.
SA Desai and Piyush Chawla then wrecked the Haryana lineup from the word go. The top four batsmen were sent back for single-digit scores leaving the side on 28 for four. Desai claimed four while Chawla accounted for three wickets to leave Haryana on 54 for seven.
When play ended for the day, H Patel was batting with S Pahal.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/44
Saurashtra vs Jharkhand: Saurashtra continued to dominate the proceedings in Rajkot on Day 3. After Jharkhand resumed their innings on 52 for two, the hosts’ attack bowled the side out for 270. Having seized a solid 283-run first innings lead, Cheteshwar Pujara-led team then enforced a follow on, on the visitors.
V Jivrajani claimed 4/33 while Jaydev Unadkat and Sahurya Sanandia took two wickets each and D Jadeja picked one to wrap-up Jharkhand’s first innings earlier in the day.
At stumps on Day 3, Jharkhand were 139 for one in their second innings.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/45
Group CBaroda vs Tripura: After resuming on 63 for one on Day 3, Tripura were anchored to 327 for four by SK Patel (123*) until stumps. Yashpal Singh contributed a valuable 90 to help build the innings. At the end of day’s play, Patel was batting with R Dey.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/37Andhra vs Madhya Pradesh: DB Ravi Teja’s 167-ball 58 and Ashwin Hebber’s 135-ball 77 helped Andhra seize a crucial first innings lead against MP. The pair stitched a 143-run partnership for the sixth wicket to help the team shape a reply to MP’s respectable 321-run first innings total.
After Teja and Hebber resumed the innings on 177 for five, he continued to build the innings steadily and took Andhra past the 300-run mark. Mihir Hirwani (five wickets) ended the stand with the wicket of Teja with Andhra on 317 and in the next over, Ankit Sharma claimed Hebber to leave the hosts on 319 for seven. Ayyappa Bandaru then helped Andhra to a first innings lead. Andhra were leading by 55 runs when the side was bowled out for 376.
At Stumps, MP were 67 for five. Bandaru claimed three while Bhargav Bhatt and Hanuma Vihari took a wicket each.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/38
Odisha vs Mumbai: Powered by Siddhesh Lad’s 117-run knock, Mumbai set Odisha a 413-run target. The hosts were left wobbling on 93 for four by the visitors pace attack.
Earlier after resuming the innings on 58 for three, Mumbai lost Dhawal Kulkarni with the score on 77. Suryakant Pradhan who had accounted for the night-watchman, followed up with the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav to leave Mumbai on 84 for five. While the visitors continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, Lad held one end up and helped the side build on the first innings lead and set up the game in Mumbai’s favour. Eight runs after Lad was caught by Biplab Samantray off his own bowling, Mumbai declared their second innings on 268 for nine.
Vijay Gohil then claimed Sandeep Pattanaik upfront to leave Odisha on 13 for one. Late in the final session of the day, Kulkarni accounted for Natraj Behera to leave the home team on 60 for two while Akash Parker dealt a double blow 26 runs later to push the opponents on the back-foot.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/42Group DBengal vs Himachal: Following on, Himachal were trailing by six runs with eight wickets in hand at the end of day’s play.
The Ashoke Dinda-led attack bowled HP out for 206 after resuming their first innings on 163 for five earlier in the day. The pacer claimed five while Mohammed Shami picked three wickets in the innings and Mukesh Kumar two to help Bengal to a 213-run first innings lead.
The visitors then put up a better performance in their second outing. P Khanduri and Prashant Chopra got HP off to a good start with 125-run opening stand until the latter was sent back by Mukesh. Four runs later, Shami accounted for S Verma.
Khanduri and N Gangta then saw HP through to stumps at 207 for two.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/39Chhattisgarh vs Punjab: Anmolpreet Singh helped Punjab to a solid 415-run first innings lead with his maiden first-class double century. The young middle-order batsman resumed his innings on 171 on the third morning and went on to make 267 off 262 balls (32x4 and 4x6) as he put Punjab in a commanding position. Punjab declared their innings on 653 for nine at the fall of Anmolpreet’s wicket.
Strengthening the visitors’ position further, Sandeep Sharma and Barinder Sran claimed two wickets each to leave Chhattisgarh on 171 for four at Stumps. With the hosts trailing by 244 runs at the end of Day 3, Punjab need six wickets to register a win.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/41
Vidarbha vs Services: The Umesh Yadav-led Vidarbha attack helped the hosts seize a 68-run first innings lead earlier in the day. While Umesh claimed both the overnight batsmen – Rahul Singh Gahlaut (63) and V Yadav (61) - Akshay Wakhare and Co ran through the rest of the lineup to bowl Services out for 317 after resuming on 141 for four in the morning.
Umesh gave the hosts their first breakthrough by sending back Gahlaut and leaving Services on 158 for five. V Yadav and Nakul Verma then joined hands to keep the innings in the fray. But the pacer struck a crucial blow by claiming V Yadav to end the blossoming stand and left the visitors on 266 for six. The spinners then wrapped up the innings. Wakhare finished with a five-wicket haul while Karn Sharma accounted for two and A Karnewar picked one wicket.
When play ended for the day, Vidarbha had lost both their openers and were 111 for two. The home team were leading by 179 runs at Stumps with SR Ramaswamy and overnight batsman Karn in the middle.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/40 
