Spurred by Chirag Jani's a five-wicket haul, defending champions Saurashtra scripted their first knockout win of the season with a 238-run thrashing of Vidarbha on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Nagpur on Sunday.
Veteran Saurashtra batter Cheteshwar Pujara touched a memorable milestone in his 66-run knock, becoming only the fourth Indian batter to score 20000 First-Class runs after legends Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
The outright win came as a big relief for Saurashtra in their knockout round aspirations after a narrow defeat against Haryana in the previous league match and a draw against Jharkhand in the season opener.
Vidarbha were chasing an improbable 373, but could not even offer a semblance of fight while folding for 134 in their second innings as Jani took five for 51.
Atharva Taide made a 54 for Vidarbha but they suffered batting collapse for a second time in the match after getting bundled out for 78 in the first dig.
Talking about batting collapse, Saurashtra also suffered one of their own after resuming from their overnight 205 for three.
Despite veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara making 66 off 137 balls, the visitors were bowled out for 244 in their second innings.
They lost the last seven wickets for a mere 39 runs but by then the overall lead had touched 372.
At Jodhpur, Rajasthan also registered their first knockout win of the season with a fluent 10-wicket stroll over Maharashtra.
Maharashtra started the day from a rather stable 66 for 1 but floundered against India left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed who returned with impressive figures of 11-3-19-4.
Ahmed got good support from fellow left-arm pacer Aniket Chaudhary (3/32).
The home side needed to score 104 runs for a win, and they did that with ease going past the target without losing any wickets.
Openers Abhijeet Tomar (53 off 89 balls) and Yash Kothari (52 off 94 balls) guided Rajasthan home in a little over 30 overs.
At Delhi, captain Rajat Paliwal (111) and Ravi Chauhan (133 batting) made hundreds to place Services on the cusp of taking an important first innings lead over Jharkhand at the end of third day.
After bowling out their rivals for 316, Services ended the day at 315 for 3 while resuming the first innings from overnight 128 for two.
Chauhan and Paliwal milked 201 runs for the third wicket alliance.
Brief scores:
At Nagpur: Saurashtra: 206 all out & 244 all out in 89.2 overs (Vishvaraj Jadeja 79, Cheteshwar Pujara 66, Kevin Jivrajani 57; Umesh Yadav 3/42, Aditya Thakare 3/49) beat Vidarbha: 78 all out & 134 all out in 45.2 overs (Atharva Taide 54; Chirag Jani 5/51).
At Jodhpur: Maharashtra: 189 & 184 all out in 69.5 overs (Siddesh Veer 59; Khaleel Ahmed 4/19, Aniket Chaudhary 3/32) lost to Rajasthan: 270 and 106/0 in 30.3 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 53 not out, Yash Kothari 52 not out) by 10 wickets.
At Delhi: Jharkhand: 316 vs Services: 315/3 in 95 overs (Rajat Paliwal 111, Ravi Chauhan 133 batting).
Mumbai on top vs Kerala, aiming third successive win
Mumbai dished out a dominant batting display, with openers Jay Bista and Bhupen Lalwani notching up half centuries to put them on top against Kerala on the third day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match in Thumba, Kerala on Sunday.
Having taken a slender first innings lead of seven runs, Mumbai posted a formidable 319 in their second essay to set the home side an imposing target of 327 runs.
Kerala were 24 for no loss at close on day three as they face a daunting task, needing to showcase exceptional batting prowess to salvage a draw or secure an unlikely win.
Mumbai thus remained on the brink of securing their third successive outright win of the season.
Resuming on 105 for no loss, Lalwani (88) and Bista (73) continued their overnight partnership to post respective fifties.
MD Nidheesh (2/59) broke the opening stand of 148 before Lalwani got in a mini partnership with veteran India batter Ajinkya Rahane who played with a patient and cautious approach.
But, the Mumbai skipper could not convert his start and managed to score only 16 runs from 65 balls before falling to Jalaj Saxena (4/80).
The Kerala bowlers, despite their efforts, struggled to break Mumbai's resilience. Shreyas Gopal returned with four wickets.
Prasad Pawar (35), Shams Mulani (30) and No. 9 Mohit Avasthi (32) also made valuable contributions, propelling Mumbai to a formidable total of 319.
Andhra eyeing win vs Assam
In Dibrugarh, Andhra rode on Ricky Bhui's captain's knock of 125 to take a firm grip against hosts Assam and inch closer to their first win of the season.
Despite a resilient 46 not out from skipper Riyan Parag, Assam found themselves precariously positioned at 81/5 at the end of the third day while chasing a stiff 363.
Girinath Reddy (3/35) and Lalith Mohan (2/33) did the damage for Andhra.
In the second innings, Andhra's batters showcased their prowess, as Bhui hit his 16th first class century to take them to a substantial 334.
Despite Sidharth Sarmah's five-wicket haul, Andhra established an imposing total with Hanuma Vihar (63) and Shaik Rasheed (40 not out) also contributing handsomely.
Andhra's victory seems imminent, with Assam requiring a Herculean effort to salvage a draw on the final day.
Chhattisgarh struggle in overcast Kolkata
Chhattisgarh were reduced to 27/2 under overcast conditions and bad light as only nine overs of play were possible in their match against Bengal at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Bengal made an overnight declaration of their first innings for 381/8.
Brief Scores:
In Thumba: Mumbai 251 and 319 in 97.4 overs (Bhupen Lalwani 88, Jay Bista 73; Jalaj Saxena 4/80, Shreyas Gopal 4/82) vs Kerala 244 and 24 for no loss in 6 overs.
In Dibrugarh: Andhra 188 and 334 in 90 overs (Ricky Bhui 125, Shaik Rasheed 40 not out; Sidharth Sarmah 5/66) vs Assam 160 and 81/5 in 24 overs (Riyan Parag 46 batting; Girinath Reddy 3/35, Lalith Mohan 2/33).
In Kolkata: Bengal 381/8 declared vs Chhattisgarh 27/2 in 9 overs.
In Meerut: Bihar 187/7 in 79.1 overs (Sharman Nigrodh 87, Sakibul Gani 41) vs Uttar Pradesh.
Sai Kishore spins Tamil Nadu to big win over Railways
Skipper R Sai Kishore came up with a phenomenal bowling performance as his seven-wicket match-haul in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C game helped Tamil Nadu trump Railways by an innings and 129 runs on the third day on Sunday.
Railways began the day on 126 for two in their first innings against Tamil Nadu's 489 but were bowled out for 246 as pacer Sandeep Warrier and left-arm spinner Sai Kishore shared six wickets equally among them.
Pratham Singh (92 off 94 balls) looked formidable with the bat, but he fell to Warrier.
With the hosts enforcing the follow-on, things went from bad to worse for Railways, as it could manage just 114 in their second essay.
Pratham (29) top-scored again for the visitors. But Sai Kishore (4/43) and fellow left-arm spinner Ajith Ram (4/40) mopped up their batting unit.
In another Group C meeting at Mysore, tons from Mayank Agarwal (114), Devdutt Padikkal (103) and Nikin Jose (107) put Karnataka in the driver's seat against Goa.
Resuming the day at 251 for four, with Agarwal and Padikkal having walked back after scoring their hundreds overnight, Jose gave a hard time to the Goan bowlers before becoming the seventh man to be dismissed, falling to Darshan Misal, who bagged six wickets.
Eventually, the hosts declared at 498 for nine to gain a lead of 177 runs.
In the second innings, the visitors finished the day on 93 for one, trailing by 84 runs. Krishnamurthy Siddharth remained unbeaten on 57 for Goa.
Elsewhere, the remaining two Group C matches between Chandigarh and Gujarat and Punjab and Tripura were called off for the day due to bad light.
Brief scores:
In Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu: 489 beat Railways: 246 & 114 (Pratham Singh 29; Ajith Ram 4/40, R Sai Kishore 4/43) by an innings and 129 runs.
In Mysore: Goa 321 & 93/1 (Krishnamurthy Siddharth 57 batting; Vijaykumar Vyshak 1/18) vs Karnataka: 498/9 (Mayank Agarwal 114, Devdutt Padikkal 103, Nikin Jose 107; Darshan Misal 6/134).
In Chandigarh: Gujarat: 86/2 (Sunpreetsingh Bagga 39; Jagjit Singh 2/27) vs Chandigarh.
In Mohali: Punjab 78/7 (Nehal Wadhera 33; Manisankar Murasingh 2/11) vs Tripura.
Delhi suffer another embarrassing loss
A clueless Delhi suffered another embarrassing defeat in Ranji Trophy, their second in three games this season, with an 86-run loss to Madhya Pradesh in their Elite Group D match on Sunday.
The loss to MP will hurt Delhi more as they had put themselves in a strong position by bowling out the hosts for 171 on the opening day.
Resuming day three at 157 for five, MP managed to reach 251 in their second innings, setting a 218-run target for Delhi.
Delhi's batters looked ill-equipped even on decent batting conditions and were bowled out for 131 after the umpires extended play beyond regulation close of play.
Vaibhav Kandpal (49 not out off 125) was the only one who could apply himself and eventually ran out of partners as Delhi were bowled out in 53.5 overs.
Delhi had lost to Puducherry in their Ranji opener before sharing a point with Jammu in a game marred by bad light. The season seems to be getting from bad to worse for the struggling outfit.
A change in captaincy after the loss to Puducherry has not been able to transform the fortunes of the team.
The batters have let the team down, starting from U-19 World Cup wining skipper Yash Dhull, who scored 33 off 46 balls on Sunday. His opening partner Salil Malhotra lasted only three balls.
For MP, the star of their second innings was skipper Shubham Sharma whose 73 off 74 balls in the second innings made all the difference.
It was an all-round effort with the ball as MP's Anubhav Agarwal, Kulwant Khejroliya, Saransh Jain took two wickets each.
Brief Scores: At Indore: MP 171 and 251 in 78.1 overs (Shubham Sharma 73; Himanshu Chauhan 4/69). Delhi 205 and 131 all out in 53.5 overs (Yash Dhull 33, Vaibhav Kandpal 49 not out; Kulwant Khejroliya 2/30). MP beat Delhi by 86 runs for six points.
At Dehradun: Puducherry: 204 and 131 all out beat Uttarakhand: 123 all out and 157 all out (Yuvraj Chaudhary 46, Kunal Chandela 45; Gaurav Yadav 7/53) by 55 runs.
At Dharamsala: Baroda: 482 beat Himachal Pradesh: 184 and 280 all out in 70.3 overs (Gurvinder Singh 59, Nikhil Gangta 58, Akash Vashist 43; Bhargav Bhatt 4/32, Akash Singh 3/86) by an innings 18 runs.
At Cuttack: Odisha: 130 and 198 all out in 67 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 100; Aquib Nabi 4/73) vs Jammu & Kashmir: 180 and 72/4 in 23.2 overs (Abdul Samad 24 batting; Rajesh Mohanty 3/29). J&K are chasing a target of 149 and they need 77 more runs to win on the fourth day.
