Ayush Badoni took five wickets as Delhi came back into the game, but Bengal still hold the upper hand in the Ranji Trophy Round 1 match at Kalyani.
Bengal began Day 3 on 304/3 with a chance to bat Delhi out of the contest. Centurions Sudip Kumar Gharami and Abhishek Porel added little to their overnight scores, and only Sumanta Gupta reached 50 after that as Bengal were bowled out for 429, a lead of 189. Delhi’s top order failed again. The Bengal seamers took three early wickets, and Yash Dhull retired hurt after facing one ball. With a day left, Delhi must bat through it to avoid an innings defeat.
Brief scores: Delhi 240 & 101/3 trail Bengal 429 (Abhishek Porel 149, Sudip Kumar Gharami 133, Sumanta Gupta 50; Ayush Badoni 5/43) by 88 runs.
Chhattisgarh frustrate Saurashtra
At Rajkot, Chhattisgarh stuck to their template of batting long and slow, but Saurashtra still took the first-innings lead. The match is heading for a draw. Resuming on 122/3, Chhattisgarh were bowled out for 312 in 121.5 overs. Mayank Verma ground out 68 off 209 balls, 36 of those runs in boundaries, but no one else turned a start into a big score. Saurashtra lead by 80 and would need something extraordinary on the final day to force a result.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 392 & 45/0 lead Chhattisgarh 312 (Mayank Verma 68, Vikalp Tiwari 46, Rahul Pradhan 41; Ravindra Jadeja 3/40) by 125 runs.
Rain, bad light frustrate teams
Rain and bad light allowed only 35 overs between Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar. Both sides had gone into the day believing they could take charge of an evenly poised game. Captain Shubham Sharma’s unbeaten 51 took MP to 151/5 and stretched their lead to 227. If the weather holds on Wednesday, they will look for quick runs to put the hosts under pressure. J&K would back themselves to chase if MP’s lead is kept below 250.
Brief scores: MP 196 & 151/5 (Shubham Sharma 51 n.o) lead J&K 120 (Aryan Pandey 3/29, Avesh Khan 3/44) by 227 runs.
Kerala fight on
Against Jharkhand at Jamshedpur, Kerala got off to a strong start through opener Abhishek Nair’s 126. No one else got past 44, and Jharkhand’s patience paid off in the second half of the day. After watching Jharkhand bat for two days and reach 587, Kerala ended Day 3 on 269/6. The first-innings lead is well beyond the visitors’ reach, but four wickets remain and they can still avoid an innings defeat.
Brief scores: Kerala 269/6 (Abhishek Nair 126, Rohan Kunnummal 44; Utkarsh Singh 3/44) trail Jharkhand 587 by 318 runs.
Karun rescues Karnataka
Karun Nair’s unbeaten 81 helped Karnataka recover from an early wobble against Andhra at Vijayawada, where Andhra had built a first-innings lead of 144. Resuming on 331/6, Andhra were bowled out for 418, with overnight centurion Seeram Rahul finishing on 119. Shikhar Shetty, the pick of the bowlers on Day 2, finished with six wickets. Karnataka, out of the running for a win, started badly again as KL Rahul fell early. They were 43/3, then 137/4, before Karun and captain Ravichandran Smaran stopped the slide. Karnataka ended Day 3 with a lead of 32 and plenty of work to do on the final day.
Brief scores: Karnataka 274 & 176/4 (Karun Nair 81 n.o, Manvanth Kumar 44; Saurabh Kumar 3/41) lead Andhra 418 (Seeram Rahul 191; Shikhar Shetty 6/115) by 32 runs.