Ranji Trophy day 3 round-up: Easwaran, Gaikwad score fifties, Unadkat takes six-for, Pujara struggles

Elite Group A

Starting with an 85-run lead on day three, Baroda were eventually bundled out for 185, as Mumbai's Tanush Kotian took 5-61, continuing his excellent run of form. Skipper Krunal Pandya was the top-scorer, with 55. With a target of 262, Mumbai lost two wickets by the end of the day – Prithvi Shaw and Hardik Tamore – with 42 on the board.

In Srinagar, Maharashtra opener Siddhesh Veer slammed a century, putting on 175 for the third wicket with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (86). There was, however, a mini-slide thereafter, and they ended the day trailing Jammu & Kashmir by 207 runs.

Services closed in on an innings victory on day three, bowling Meghalaya out for 233 before enforcing the follow-on and reducing them to 57-6.

No play was possible on day three between Tripura and Odisha, due to rain and a wet outfield.   

Scores at stumps, day three

• Baroda 290 (Mitesh Patel 86, Tanush Kotian 4-61) & 185 (Krunal Pandya 55, Tanush Kotian 5-61) v Mumbai 214 (Ayush Mhatre 52, Bhargav Bhatt 4-53) & 42-2 (Ayush Mhatre 19*, Mahesh Pithiya 1-10). Mumbai need 220 runs to win.
• Jammu & Kashmir 519-7d (Shubham Khajuria 255, Hitesh Walunj 4-143) v Maharashtra 312-6 (Siddhesh Veer 127, Rasikh Salam 2-57). Maharashtra trail by 207 runs.
• Services 402 (Ravi Chauhan 113, Aryan Bora 4-90) v Meghalaya 233 (Sumit Kumar 87, Varun Choudhary 5-43) & 57-6 (Ajay Duhan 16, Jayant Goyat 2-5). Meghalaya trail by 112 runs.
• Tripura v Odisha: No play on days one, two and three

Elite Group B

Gujarat swiftly took the three remaining Hyderabad wickets to secure a 95-run first innings lead. Hyderabad rallied though, as G Anikethreddy's five-wicket haul helped bowl Gujarat out for 201. On day four, they will need 297 to win.

Uttarakhand could only manage 299 in response to Himachal Pradesh's 663-3 declared. The follow-on was enforced, and they batted one over before the end of the day's play.

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Deepak Hooda's century helped Rajasthan take a 43-run first-innings lead over Puducherry. By the end of the day, Puducherry responded with 207-6, an overall lead of 164 runs.

Vidarbha were 192-1 at the start of the day, but lost Atharva Taide early on for 118. They were eventually bowled out for 366. Andhra safely negotiated their way to 79-1 at stumps in pursuit of 318.

Scores at stumps, day three

• Gujarat 343 (Manan Hingrajia 181, Chama Milind 3-51) & 201 (Umang Kumar 85, G Anikethreddy 5-36) v Hyderabad 248 (K Hima Teja 66, Arsan Nagwaswalla 3-50). Hyderabad need 297 runs to win.
• Himachal Pradesh 663-3d (Ankit Kalsi 205*, Yuvraj Choudhary 1-52) v Uttarakhand 299 (Avneesh Sudha 96, Divesh R Sharma 3-47) & 0-0. Uttarakhand trail by 334 runs. 
• Puducherry 248 (Ajay Rohera 94*, Aniket Choudhary 2-36) & 207-6 (Akash Kargave 54, Rahul Chahar 2-39) v Rajasthan 291 (Deepak Hooda 128, Ankit Sharma 4-42). Puducherry lead by 164 runs.
• Vidarbha 118 (Akshay Wadkar 46*, KV Sasikanth 3-31) & 366 (Atharva Taide 118, Tripurana Vijay 4-98) v Andhra 167 (Abhishek Reddy 68, Akshay Wakhare 4-10) & 79-1 (Abhishek Reddy 38*, Harsh Dubey 1-29). Andhra Pradesh need 239 runs to win.

Elite Group C

After an abandoned day two, MP resumed on 232-4 against Karnataka, and did well with the bat on day three. Captain Shubham Sharma starred with an unbeaten century, while Harpreet Singh Bhatia and Saransh Jain both scored fifties. 

Starting the day at 198-3, UP suffered a collapse to 292 all out, conceding a 19-run lead as Mukesh Kumar and Shahbaz Ahmed took four wickets each. Bengal then pressed home their advantage, as openers Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran notched up half-centuries to take them to 141-0 at stumps.

Haryana managed to secure victory within two days against Bihar. Resuming on 184-7 after bowling their opponents out for 78 on day one, they put up 254, before skittling Bihar for 133 to win by an innings and 43 runs. 

14 wickets fell in Thiruvananthapuram as Punjab were bowled out for 194, Aditya Sarwate and Jalaj Saxena taking five wickets apiece. Leg-spinner Mayank Markande then ran through Kerala, taking six to help secure a 15-run lead for his side. Punjab began batting again, but were reduced to 23-3 by stumps.

Scores at stumps, day three

• Madhya Pradesh 425-8 (Shubham Sharma 143*, Vasuki Koushik 2-78) v Karnataka
• Bengal 311 (Sudip Chatterjee 116, Yash Dayal 4-27)  & 141-0 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 78*, Nitish Rana 0-1) v Uttar Pradesh 292 (Aryan Juyal 92, Mukesh Kumar 4-43). Bengal lead by 160 runs.
• Bihar 78 (Anuj Raj 29, Aman Kumar 3-18) & 133 (Sraman Nigrodh 32, Jayant Yadav 5-57) LOST to Haryana 254 (Jayant Yadav 55, Himanshu Singh 4-49) by an innings and 43 runs.
• Punjab 194 (Ramandeep Singh 43, Aditya Sarwate 5-62) & 23-3 (Abhay Choudhary 12, Aditya Sarwate 2-8) v Kerala 179 (Mohammed Azharuddeen 38, Mayank Markande 6-59). Punjab lead by 38 runs.

Elite Group D

Jharkhand took a 181-run lead over Assam, bowling them out for 180 on day three. They enforced the follow-on, but Assam fared better in their second dig, making it to 130-3 by stumps.

Chandigarh were 31-1 at the start of day three, in pursuit of 341 for victory. They eventually fell well short, though, as Akash Pandey and Karn Sharma took seven wickets between them to bowl them out for 159.

An unbeaten century from Jonty Sidhu helped Delhi edge past Chhattisgarh's first innings score of 343, as they were bowled out for 357. By stumps, Chhattisgarh had made it to 33-0.

Tamil Nadu continued to boss proceedings against Saurashtra. Resuming day three with a 75-run lead, they built it up to 164 before being bowled out as Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat finished with 6-61. But when Saurashtra began batting again, their top order was blown away by left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh. They ended the day at 35-5, still trailing by 129 runs and staring down the barrel of an innings defeat.  

Scores at stumps, day three

• Jharkhand 361 (Aryaman Sen 64, Mukhtar Hussain 5-55) v Assam 180 (Sibasankar Roy 42, Utkarsh Singh 3-41) & 130-3 (Parvej Musaraf 57, Vivek Anand Tiwari 1-8). Assam trail by 51 runs.
• Railways 142 (Yuvraj Singh 55, Vishu Kashyap 3-21) & 307 (Upendra Yadav 124, Nishunk Birla 4-79) BEAT Chandigarh 109 (Raj Bawa 34, Akash Pandey 5-38) & 159 (Arslan Khan 46, Akash Pandey 4-46) by 181 runs.
• Chhattisgarh 343 (Ayush Pandey 89, Ayush Badoni 4-43) & 33-0 (Ayush Pandey 22*, Ayush Badoni 0-0) v Delhi 357 (Jonty Sidhu 103*, Ashish Chouhan 3-54). Chhattisgarh lead by 19 runs.
• Saurashtra 203 (Arpit Vasavada 62*, Sonu Yadav 3-30) & 35-5 (Arpit Vasavada 15*, Gurjapneet Singh 4-7) v Tamil Nadu 367 (N Jagadeesan 100, Jaydev Unadkat 6-61). Saurashtra trail by 129 runs.

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