Ranji Trophy: Powar puts Mumbai in control

Off-spinner Romesh Powar scalped four wickets as defending champions Mumbai consolidated their position with a 355-run lead against Haryana on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Rohtak on Saturday.

Powar spun the web around Haryana batsmen with figures of four for 42 from his 22 overs, while pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (2/26), Usman Malvi (2/28) and Iqbal Abdullah (2/34) picked up two wickets each to bundle out hosts for 164 in their first innings in reply to Mumbai's 400.

At stumps on the penultimate day, Mumbai were 119 for three in their second essay. Opener Sahil Kukreja remained unbeaten on 63 while Rohit Sharma celebrated his recall to the Indian team with 51 off 66 balls that included eight fours before he fell prey to Pacer Sanjay Budhwar (2/21).

Earlier, resuming at 34 for two, Haryana received the first blow at the team score of 72 in the form of Manav Sharma (20) who was clean bowled by Powar.

Thereafter, the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only three of the last six batsmen managing double figures.

For the home team, opener Rahul Dewan was notable scorer with a patient 70 that came off 186 deliveries and included six boundaries.

Brief Scores:
Mumbai: 400 & 119/3 (S Kukreja 63 batting, R Sharma 51; S Budhwar 2/21).
Haryana 1st innings: 164 (R Dewan 70; R Powar 4/42).

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Karnataka take lead against Punjab
Mysore: A classy 115 by Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar's unbeaten 51 ensured Karnataka take a vital first innings lead against Punjab on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Mysore.

Resuming at 265 for six, the hosts were all out for 378, which largely revolved around Pandey's 147-ball innings, and secured a 78-run lead at the Gangothri Glades Cricket Ground.

In reply, Punjab were 165 for one, with Sunny Sohal (85 not out) and Mayank Sidhana (37 not out) at the crease, when the penultimate day's play was called off.

Punjab, who are now 87 runs ahead, would have to score at a rapid pace on the last day tomorrow to give their bowlers sufficient time to bowl out Karnataka in their second essay.

Punjab piled up 300 in their first innings.

Pandey, who resumed at personal 76, hogged the limelight. The sinewy youngster began the day with a crunching cover drive off pacer Manpreet Singh Gony to set the momentum for his team.

Pandey cracked six fours and a six off Harmeet Singh to bring up his third hundred of the season, taking his run aggregate to an impressive 668 with an average of 66.8.

Known for his aggression in the Twenty20 format, the 20-year-old showed remarkable temperament to be among the top run-getters in the 2009-10 season.

Vinay Kumar augmented Karnataka's lead with his resilient unbeaten contribution, after Pandey fell to Taruwar Kohli in the 90th over. Pacer duo of Kohli and Love Ablish scalped two wickets each for the visitors.

Punjab began their second essay in a hurry, taking 19 runs from three overs before the lunch, but later went into consolidation mode in the last two sessions of the day.

Sohal and Ravi Inder Singh (38) raised 72 runs for the first wicket, before the latter holed out to Aravind at mid-on off left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi.

A lot would depend on Punjab's unbeaten duo if they hope to play winner of the match between Uttar Pradesh and Assam in semifinal.

Brief score:
Punjab: 300 & 165/1 (S Sohal 85 batting; S Joshi 1/28).
Karnataka 1st innings: 378 (M Pandey 115, Vinay Kumar 51n.o; T Kohli 2/37, L Ablish 2/107).

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Delhi reach 294 for 4
New Delhi: Delhi middle order fired in unison and made a strong reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 463 by reaching 294 for four at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.

Resuming at overnight score of 69 for two, Delhi added 225 runs from the 89.5 overs they faced today at the expense of two wickets. The home side are still 169 runs behind Tamil Nadu with six wickets intact.

At the close of play on the third day, captain Rajat Bhatia was batting on 67 while Gaurav Chabra was giving him company on 32 after overnight batsmen Aditya Jain and Mithun Manhas had contributed an identical 76 runs each.

The Delhi reply though was a tad slow, especially when Bhatia and Jain were batting, as the scoring rate was just above 2.5 runs an over.

Jain took 259 balls to compile his 76 with the help of 11 fours. Manhas though was twice faster than Jain as he took 122 balls for his 76, which he made with the help of 12 boundaries.

Bhatia had already consumed 176 balls for his unbeaten 67, which he made with the help of nine fours.

The highlight of the Delhi innings was the 134-run stand for the third wicket between Manhas and Jain, which they made from 40.1 overs.

But once Manhas was out, falling prey to Aushik Srinivas in the morning session, the run rate slowed down drastically.

Bhatia and Jain made just 67 runs from 37.3 overs for the fourth wicket before the latter was out to Abhinav Mukund as Tamil Nadu's only second success of the day.

Srinivas and Mukund got a wicket each today while success eluded Laxmipathy Balaji, Ravichandran Ashwin and Chandrasekar Ganapathy.

Brief Scores
Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 463 all out (S Anirudh 113, A Karthik 78, A Mukund 73; V Mishra 5/112)
Delhi 1st innings: 294 for 4 wickets (A Jain 76, M Manhas 76; A Mukund 1/13, A Srinivas 1/43).

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UP inch closer towards semis
Guwahati: Riding on Piyush Chawla's 86-ball 53 and Tanmay Srivastava's patient 49, Uttar Pradesh took themselves to a comfortable position with a huge 320-run lead against Assam after day three of the four-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final match in Guwahati.

Resuming at the overnight score of 25 for no loss, the visitors piled up 256 for nine with Praveen Gupta (17 not out) and Shalabh Srivastava (6 not out) at the crease at the North-East Frontier Railway Stadium.

Uttar Pradesh have already bagged the bonus point by virtue of their 64-run first innings lead and are more or less assured of a semi-final berth unless Assam batsmen come out with a miraculous display.

Chawla, who cracked six fours, helped his team swell the lead while he was well supported Prakash Srivastava who made a 97-ball 42.

Earlier, opener Shivakant Shukla (3) became the first Uttar Pradesh batsman to depart after felling prey to Ranjitkumar Mali in 14th over.

For Assam, Mali (4/76) and Dhiraj Goswami (4/56) shared eight wickets among them.

Brief score:
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 213 & 256/9 (P Chawla 53, T Srivastava 49; R Mali 4/76)
Assam 1st innings 149 all out (A Majumdar 53; P Chawla 2/30).