Ashith Rajeev scalped a hat-trick in Pondicherry’s win over Meghalaya.
There were as many as seven outright wins as the third day of the round four of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 came to an end.
Here’s how the action unfolded on Sunday:
Mumbai suffered their second successive loss of the season following a defeat against Karnataka. While Sarfaraz Khan scored a fighting 71* to take Mumbai’s second-innings total to 149, Karnataka, needing 126 runs to win, chased down the target to secure a five-wicket win and bagged six points.
In the other Group B match, Baroda too pocketed six points following a 99-run win against Railways. Lukman Meriwala, who had scalped four wickets in the first innings, got six wickets in the second innings as Baroda bowled out Railways for 101.
Services, Assam and Goa, meanwhile, sealed an innings win and gained seven points each following their wins over Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Manipur respectively.
Diwesh Pathania and Sachidanand Pandey scalped five wickets each as Services, who had secured a 241-run lead after bundling out Maharashtra for 44 in the first innings, bowled out Maharashtra for 147 to complete an innings and a 94-run win.
For Assam, Rajneet Mali returned with the match figures of 10/51 while Mukhtar Hussain picked up six wickets in the second innings as the Gokul Sharma-led side defeated Uttarakhand by an innings and 94 runs in Dehradun.
Goa registered an innings and 359-run win against Manipur, who were bowled out for 88, 18 less than their first-innings total. Skipper Amit Verma picked up six wickets as Goa sealed a win in under three days.
In Mangaldai, Pondicherry beat Meghalaya by five wickets. In a match, where neither of the teams could reach a three-figure mark, Pondicherry chased down the 49-run target. Pondicherry, who had registered a 15-run lead after bowling out Meghalaya for 65, bundled out the opposition for 63 as R Vinay Kumar and Ashith Rajeev, who took a hat-trick, shared the spoils, scalping five and four wickets respectively.
Bihar, on the other hand, sealed a fine come-from-behind win against Mizoram, who, despite taking a 116-run lead, after scoring 378, in the first innings, lost the match. Abhijeet Saket picked up seven wickets, conceding just 12 runs, as Bihar bowled out Mizoram for 68 runs and then chased down the 185-run target and won the match by six wickets to pocket six points.
The Tamil Nadu-Uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, hangs in the balance. The Vijay Shankar-led side was dismissed for 180 after being 162/4 at one stage as Saurabh Kumar and Ankit Rajpoot picked up five and four wickets respectively. However, Tamil Nadu struck back as the bowlers reduced Uttar Pradesh to 170/9 at stumps.
Jammu and Kashmir took a 182-run lead, scoring 441 on the back of a quickfire hundred from Abdul Samad. The right-hander slammed 128 off 75 balls, hitting 10 fours and 11 sixes before J & K bowlers limited Jharkhand, who are still trailing by 79 runs, to 103/4 before stumps.
In Mohali, Delhi took a 26-run lead against Punjab after scoring 339 on the back of Dhruv Shorey and Nitish Rana’s 96 and 92 respectively. Punjab were then reduced to 44/4 before stumps on day three.
Himachal Pradesh, meanwhile, have put up a solid fight despite conceding a 252-run lead against Madhya Pradesh, who scored 427/9d. The duo of Akash Vashist and Ankit Kalsi were unbeaten on 74 and 75 respectively as Himachal Pradesh ended the third day at 176/3, trailing Madhya Pradesh by 76 runs.
In the Hyderabad versus Kerala clash, Sumanth Kolla, who resumed the day’s play on the overnight score of 91, completed a gritty hundred. The right-hander scored an unbeaten 111 as his side scored 228 to secure a 64-run lead in the first innings. Kerala ended the day at 204/7, with a lead of 140.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan ended the third day’s play at 243/8 against Andhra, who had taken a first-innings lead of 106 after bowling out Rajasthan for 151. While Ashok Menaria scored 79, Rajesh Bishnoi chipped in with 49 runs for Rajasthan in the second innings.
In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, who conceded a four-run lead after being bowled out for 119, were 33/3 against Haryana at the close of day’s play and will need 230 runs more to win the match. While Bengal reduced Gujarat for 169/7, the match, which has only witnessed 65 overs being bowled, is heading towards a draw.
In Agartala, after the first two days were washed out, Tripura declared their first innings at 288/6 against Odisha after skipper Milind Kumar scored a hundred. Odisha, before stumps, had to bat for four overs and they made sure they did not lose any wickets, ending the day at 5/0.
In the two matches – Chandigarh versus Nagaland and Sikkim versus Arunachal Pradesh – which were been dominated by rain, Chandigarh, scored 400/6d against Nagaland as Manan Vohra and Raman Bishnoi scored hundreds. Nagaland, meanwhile, are yet to bat. Sikkim, on the other hand, scored 274/6 following Yashpal Singh’s 118 not out.
