Ranji: Delhi take 139 runs lead against Tamil Nadu

Delhi batsmen Yogesh Nagar and Milind Kumar hit half centuries as home team now has a lead of 139 runs with five wickets in hand against Tamil Nadu in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group encounter at Feroz Shah Kotla.

At stumps, Delhi were 233 for five with Puneet Bisht (27 batting) and Pawan Negi (16 batting) at the crease.

Earlier Abhinav Mukund missed his century by one run but Tamil Nadu ended their first innings at 306 having a first-innings lead of 94 runs.

In his bid to reach three figure mark in a hurry, Mukund played an expansive drive to a Pradeep Sangwan (3-79) delivery that was shaping out and was caught behind.

When Delhi started their second innings, Unmukt Chand (41, 8x4) should have been out first ball as he played flashy shot off a swinging delivery from Tamil Nadu skipper Lakshmipathy Balaji but B Arun Karthik at second slip dropped the catch.

Unmukt played with customary flair but his senior partner Shikhar Dhawan (17) was caught by R Prasanna of Jagannathan Kaushik's bowling.

Unmukt was caught off the last ball before lunch when Vasudevadas snapped him up off Yomahesh's bowling as he played a flashy shot. Skipper Mithun Manhas was dismissed immediately after lunch as he edged one from Yomahesh to Dinesh Karthik behind stumps.

Reeling at 70 for three, Nagar (58) and Milind (56) joined hands as they added 104 runs for the for the fourth wicket.

While Milind who scored a century on debut and failed subsequently in three innings looked solid as he hit some lovely cover drives, Yogesh looked a bit edgy as he was trying to play too many shots. He did hit some good shots in between as one from offie Baba Aparajith flew over long-on boundary.

Nagar scored his second 50 of the match and but fell soon after as a delivery from left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas turned and jumped and the batsman offered a simple catch to Vasudevadas at first slip.

Milind was also struck on 49 for some time before he reached 50 but he was unlucky as he got a shooter from Balaji and was leg before. Bisht and Negi saw to it that there weren't any further damage.

Nagar at the end of the day said that the hosts will like to a set a target in excess of 250 and have a go at the Tamil Nadu batsmen.

Brief Scores: Delhi: 212 & 233/5 (Yogesh Nagar 58, Milind Kumar 56, Yomahesh 2-35); Tamil Nadu: 306 (Abhinav Mukund 99, R Prasanna 59, Pradeep Sangwan 3-79).

Nayar hits ton, but Mumbai in trouble against Karnataka

Abhishek Nayar notched up his second successive century before retiring due to cramps as Karnataka took firm hold of their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match.

Chasing Karnataka's huge first innings total of 635 for 9 declared, Mumbai had struggled their way to 354 for 8 on day three, still needing 132 runs to avoid the follow on which the visitors may not enforce on the last day.

The unbeaten batsman at close was diminutive wicket-keeper batsman Onkar Gurav (20) after the home team lost Dhawal Kulkarni (17) in the last over bowled by Stuart Binny.

Mumbai's hopes rest mainly on Nayar, who is expected to resume his innings on the morrow after retiring to the pavilion on 137 - his second ton of the season after a double century against holders Rajasthan in the previous game.

The home team were let down by opener Ajinkya Rahane (24), Rohit Sharma (64) and Sureshkumar Yadav (23) who all played poor shots and were dismissed when set after Mumbai resumed at the overnight 37 for 1.

All three batsmen threw away their wickets with rival skipper Vinay Kumar accounting for Rahane, while Sharma and Yadav fell to Abhimanyu Mithun and Binny, respectively.

Rahane drove and edged to gully off Kumar early in the morning before a 126-run stand between Nayar, who has faced 215 balls and stayed at the crease for 322 minutes while hitting 17 fours, and Sharma revived the hosts.

Sharma under-edged an attempted pull off Mithun on to the stumps off the 77th ball he faced in a 131-minute stay while Yadav, also looking good, tried to clear the in-field off Binny and gave a tame catch to mid-on.

Karnataka's surprise packet was Binny, who grabbed 3 for 27, while Vinay Kumar (3) and Mithun (2) shared the spoils.

Orissa-UP Ranji match heading towards draw

Riding on Tanmany Srivastava's superb century, Uttar Pradesh gave a strong reply to Orissa's first innings total of 482 by scoring 287 for three on day three as their Ranji Trophy Elite Division match headed towards a draw.

Resuming at 54 for one, Uttar Pradesh batsmen gave a good show with Srivastava hitting 115 while Mohammad Kaif contributing a well-made 88 to give their side in the hunt for a first innings lead.

At the draw of stumps, Prashant Gupta and Parvinder Singh were batting at 35 and 39 respectively.

The highlight of the day was the 191-run stand between Srivastava and Kaif for the second wicket from 76.3 overs before the former was out to Basant Mohanty.

Kaif followed Srivastava into the dressing room within an over but Prashant Gupta and Parvinder Singh ensured that Uttar Pradesh go into the fourth and final day without any further loss of wickets.

The duo had already shared 73 runs for the unfinished fourth-wicket stand. Uttar Pradesh still trail by 195 runs with seven first innings wickets in hand.

Brief Scores: Orissa 1st innings: 482 all out in 160.3 overs; UP 1st innings: 287 for 3 in 111 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 115, Mohammad Kaif 88).

MP in command vs Bengal

Centuries from Naman Ojha and Mohnish Mishra kept Madhya Pradesh in hunt for a first innings lead against hosts Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Elite group B match.

The overnight duo of Ojha (127) and Mishra (130 n.o.) slammed centuries as the visitors finished the penultimate day with only 153 runs required to get the first innings lead.

The duo put on 199 runs for the second wicket before Ojha was adjudged leg-before off Bengal seamer Mohammad Shami Ahmed in the post-lunch session.

It was a frustrating day for Bengal bowlers as only two wickets fell with Madhya Pradesh batsmen didn't have anything to worry on one of the flat Test of decks prepared by veteran curator Prabir Mukherjee.

After Shami gave the breakthrough in the 95th over, Dinda from the other end claimed the wicket of Madhya Pradesh skipper Devendra Bundela (1) in the 98th over.

But Bengal failed to make further inroads as left-hander Syed Abbas Ali gave fine support to Mishra to finish the day on 344/3 in 108 overs.

Shukla, Bangar battle for Railways against Rajasthan

Shivakant Shukla and Sanjay Bangar struck half centuries as Railways reached 274 for four in reply to Rajasthan's massive first-innings total of 521 for eight declared on day three of their Elite division Ranji Trophy match.

Shukla scored 87 off 154 balls with the help of 13 hits to the fence while Bangar made 79 off 169 deliveries with the help of 11 boundaries and a six as the hosts managed to end the day on an even keel at the Karnail Singh Stadium.

Leg-spinner Vivek Yadav was the pick of the Rajasthan bowlers, finishing the day with figures of three for 64.

What is even more significant as far as the visiting team is concerned is that Yadav picked up the important wickets of Shukla, Bangar besides Shreyas Khanolkar (31).

Yere Gould (35) and Mahesh Rawat (26) were the two unbeaten batsmen at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day in the group A match.

Resuming on 32 for one, the overnight pair of Shukla and Khanolkar put on 83 runs for the second wicket before Yadav had the later caught behind by Rohit Jhalani.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 1st innings: 521 for 8 decl; Railways 1st innings: 274 for four (Shivkant Shukla 87, Sanjay Bangar 79; Vivek Yadav 3/64).

Haryana in command against Baroda

Haryana put themselves in a commanding position in their Elite division Ranji Trophy match against Baroda by extending their overall lead to 363 at the end of third day's play at the Motibag Ground on Saturday.

After taking a huge first-innings lead of 176 runs by dismissing Baroda for 214, Haryana were 187 runs for seven in the second essay.

Haryana were in trouble at the start of their second innings, losing openers Rahul Dewan and Nitin Saini with just seven on the board.

It was medium pacer Irfan Pathan who claimed both the wickets.

But a 66-run third-wicket partnership between Abhimanyu Khod (71) and Sunny Singh (46) steadied the ship.

Khod's knock contained nine hits to the fence and came in 209 minutes. It was because of his knock that Haryana could make 187 runs for seven in their second innings.

Baroda spinner Swapnil Singh was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming four wickets for 29 runs.

Earlier, resuming on overnight 104 for one, Baroda was folded up for just 214 as none of their batsman could tackle the bowling of Amit Mishra (4-27) and Harshal Patel (3-52).

Brief scores: Haryana 1st inning: 390; Baroda 1 st inning: 214 (A Waghmode 51, R  Solanki 52; Mishra 4/27, H Patel 3/52).

Haryana 2nd inning: 187 for 7 (Khod 71; Swapnanil Sinngh 4/29, Irfan pathan 2/32).

Saurashtra sniff victory against Punjab

Saurashtra enhanced their chances of an outright win as they reduced Punjab to 44 for four in the second innings after bundling out the hosts for 278 in the first essay in their Ranji Trophy Elite division match on Saturday.

In all, Saurashtra took 11 wickets on the penultimate day and need six more on the last day on Sunday at the PCA Stadium.

Punjab, who lost four wickets in the second innings after following on, are still trailing by 220 runs and face a herculean task to bat through the day to save the match.

Punjab, who resumed their first innings at 59 for three, were done in by some good pace and spin bowling by Saurashtra.

Pacer Jaydev Unadkat (6-87) added three more wickets on Saturday to his first day tally of three while spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja struck two blows to the hosts.

Sandip Maniyar and Siddharth Trivedi accounted for one batsman each.

Mandeep Singh was the top scorer for Punjab with his unbeaten 85 while Amitoze Singh (64) was the only other notable contributor in their first innings.

The two batsmen added 121 runs for the seventh wicket but their effort was just not enough in reply to Saurashtra's mammoth total of 542.

Maniyar accounted for three Punjab batsman. Uday Kaul (11) and Mandeep (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.

Brief Scores: Saurashtra 1st innings: 542 all out; Punjab: 278 and 44/4 in 21 overs. (U Kaul 11; S Maniyar 3-14).