New Delhi,Nov 18 (UNI) Rinku Singh’s gritty 98 not out kept Uttar Pradesh in the contest against Tamil Nadu, even as wickets fell around him on the third day of the Ranji Trophy encounters on Tuesday.
Resuming at 87 for 1 in reply to Tamil Nadu’s formidable 455, Uttar Pradesh slipped to 191 for 5 before Rinku and Shivam Mavi (50) steadied the innings with a vital 104-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Despite their resistance, the hosts still trail by 116 runs with four wickets in hand after Mavi fell late in the day.
In Hubballi, Karnataka wrapped up a resounding innings, and 185-run victory over Chandigarh. Starting the day at 72 for 4, Chandigarh were bowled out for 222 despite Manan Vohra’s unbeaten 106, as Shreyas Gopal claimed 7 for 73 and Shikhar Shetty added two wickets. Following on, they folded for 140, with Shetty picking up a five-wicket haul and Gopal taking three to complete a match haul of ten.
Maharashtra too recorded a dominant innings and 92-run win over Punjab. Beginning at 125 for 4, Punjab collapsed to 151 in their first innings as Rajvardhan Hangargekar bagged five wickets and Rajneesh Gurbani four. Forced to follow on, Punjab managed only 107 in the second innings, undone by Vicky Ostwal’s six-wicket burst.
A match-winning effort from Raj Choudhary, who bagged five wickets, and Shivam Chaudhary, who took three, powered Railways to an innings-and-117-run win over Tripura. After declaring at their overnight 446 for 9, Railways bowled Tripura out for 193 to wrap up the match inside three days.
In Visakhapatnam, Abhishek Reddy’s massive 247 and Karan Shinde’s 94 powered Andhra to 567 for 6 declared, giving them a sizeable first-innings lead over Jharkhand, who ended the day at 34 for 2.
Shahbaz Ahmed’s 101 and Sumanta Gupta’s 442 guided Bengal to 442 in their first innings, putting them firmly in control against Assam. Mohammed Shami delivered early strikes to reduce Assam to 8 for 3 before Denish Das (63 not out) and Sumit Ghadigaonkar (30 not out) steered them to 98 for 3 at stumps, still 144 runs short of making Bengal bat again.
Twin centuries from Swastik Samal (169) and Subhranshu Senapati (137) helped Odisha set Nagaland a daunting target of 465. The visitors were 41 for 1 at stumps.
A 125 from Abdul Samad and 95 from Kanhaiya Wadhawan enabled Jammu and Kashmir to set Hyderabad a formidable target of 472. Hyderabad were struggling at 169 for 7 in their chase.
In Nagpur, Vidarbha set Baroda a target of 276, built around Yash Rathod’s 91 and Ravikumar Samarth’s 45, even as Atit Sheth claimed a five-wicket haul. Darshan Nalkande then destabilised Baroda’s reply with four wickets, leaving them at 73 for 5.
Yuvrajsinh Dodiya’s six-wicket haul put Saurashtra ahead as they secured the first-innings lead over Goa, despite Abhinav Tejrana’s fighting 118.
Kerala strengthened their position against Madhya Pradesh, courtesy of Eden Apple Tom’s four-wicket haul and unbeaten 80s from Sachin Baby and Baba Aparajith.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan gained a hefty first-innings lead over Delhi after bowling them out for 296, with Kukna Ajay Singh and Jaideep Singh picking up three wickets each and Aniket Choudhary and Ashok Sharma taking two apiece.
