Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh completed victories by an innings while Meghalaya, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir added six points each to their account as Day 3 of the Round VIII of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 concluded.
Hereās how the things panned out on Thursday:
Tamil Nadu picked up seven points as they beat Baroda by an innings and 57 runs to seal a win in under three days in Vadodara. Tamil Nadu bowled out Baroda for 174 in the first innings as M Mohammed scalped seven wickets before Abhinav Mukundās double ton gave the Baba Aparajith-led side a 316-run lead.
While Baroda skipper Krunal Pandya and Atit Sheth scored fighting 74 and 70 respectively, K Vignesh picked up five wickets as Tamil Nadu then bowled out Baroda for in the second innings to seal a win.
Chandigarh too bagged seven points after their comprehensive win over Mizoram at the Mahajhan Cricket Ground in Chandigarh. After securing a mammoth 478-run lead, scoring 587/5d, on the back of Uday Kaulās double ton and hundreds from Raman Bishnoi and Ankit Kaushik, Chandigarh bowled out Mizoram for 122 to seal an innings and a 356-run win.
Iqbal Abdulla scored a fighting 76* but did not find much support from the rest of the Sikkim batsmen in the second innings as Meghalaya secured a 66-run win, bowling out Sikkim for 135. While Abhay Negi returned with the match figures of 11/83, Sanjay picked up five wickets in the second innings as Meghalaya pocketed six points.
In Agartala, Parvez Rasool capped off a fine game with his second five-wicket haul of the match as Jammu and Kashmir beat Tripura by 329 runs to pick up six points. The J & K skipper, who had picked seven wickets in the first innings and scored a fifty as his side scored 306/9d in the second innings, scalped five wickets to seal a win for his side.
Goa too bagged six points as they beat Nagaland by 229 runs in Sovima. Goa took a 142-run lead after bowling out Nagaland for 176 in the first innings. In the second innings, Snehal Kauthankar and Amit Verma guided Goa to 221/4d. The bowlers then shared the spoils as Goa bowled out Nagaland for 134 runs to win the match.
Mumbai, meanwhile, conceded a 73-run lead against Saurashtra, courtesy a gritty unbeaten 84 from Chirag Jani. The right-hander was struck on his helmet a few times, but he continued to bat on, helping his side to post 335 runs on the board. Mumbai then responded strongly as Suryakumar Yadav completed a stroke-filled ton to keep alive his sideās hopes of a win.
Suryakumar hit 17 fours and 3 sixes during his 130-ball 134-run innings while Shams Mulani scored an unbeaten 67 as Mumbai ended the third day at 285/3, leading Saurashtra by 212 runs.
In Nagpur, meanwhile, the wet outfield played spoilsport as no play was possible on the third day of the Vidarbha versus Kerala game. In the Jharkhand versus Chhattisgarh match in Jamshedpur, Virat Singh scored 140 but Chhattisgarh, who scored 559 in the first innings, bowled out Jharkhand for 242. Enforced a follow-on, Jharkhand ended the day at 51/0.
Delhi, facing Gujarat, managed to restrict Gujaratās lead to 42 runs despite Manprit Junejaās 124 and Dhruv Ravalās 94 which led Gujaratās recovery, taking them from 88/4 to 335. In the second innings, Delhi scored 228/4 before stumps on the back of Anuj Rawatās 133.
In Jaipur, meanwhile, Bengal, needing 320 runs to win, made a solid start as the opening pair of Koushik Ghosh and Abhimanyu Easwaran put up a 115-run stand. However, Rajasthanās Rituraj Singh picked up three wickets as Bengal ended the day at 185/4.
At the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Maharashtra secured a 250-run lead over Odisha as Ankit Bawne scored a double ton and Ruturaj Gaikwad and Naushad Shaikh scored hundreds. Odisha, who had to negotiate 11 overs before stumps, scored 24 runs, without losing a wicket.
Railways, squaring off against Himachal Pradesh, declared at 545/7 after securing a 262-run lead following Arindam Ghoshās unbeaten 202. Mahesh Rawat, Karn Sharma and Pradeep Poojar, meanwhile, scored fifties. Himachal then ended the day at 24/0, trailing by 238 runs.
In Shimoga, meanwhile, Aditya Shrivastava and Venkatesh Iyer led Madhya Pradeshās recovery against Karnataka. Madhya Pradesh were in a spot of bother after Karnataka, who scored 426, reduced them to 123/4. However, the two Madhya Pradesh batsmen put up an unbeaten 188-run stand, with Shrivastava scoring 109* and Iyer scoring 80*, and helped the side to end the dayās play at 311/4.
Biharās Rahmat Ullah scored a fighting 140 but Arunachal Pradesh still managed to secure a 60-run lead in the first innings. While Bihar skipper Ashutosh Aman picked four wickets to reduce Arunachal Pradesh to 162/8, the Song Tacho-led side extended their lead to 222.
