Shardul Thakur and Suryakumar Yadav starred on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals today (February 10), putting Mumbai in a winning position in their clash with Haryana.
Thakur and SKY lead Mumbai's charge
Haryana went into the third day of the game five down and still trailing Mumbai after they scored 315 in their first innings. Despite Ankit Kumar's lone-effort century, they were dismissed still behind by 14 runs thanks to a six-for from Thakur, who returned his best figures this season of 6-58. Thakur is carrying his form through from the previous round of fixtures when he took eight wickets in the match against Meghalaya.
After Thakur had run through Haryana, it was Suryakumar Yadav's turn to step up to the plate after Mumbai were reduced to 100-3. Having left the competition to play in India's T20I series against England, SKY had previously been having a poor domestic season, having returned two ducks from his most recent two innings. In his last Ranji Trophy game back in October, he was out for seven in his only innings. Today however, SKY struck an 86-ball 70, counter-attacking to build his side's lead. He was aided by Ajinkya Rahane, who ended the day unbeaten on 88 off 142 balls. SKY was eventually dismissed by Anuj Thakral. Mumbai will go into day four leading Haryana by 292 runs.
Vidarbha, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir extend leads
Gujarat were finally dismissed for 511 on day three, after Jaymeet Patel and Urvil Patel hit centuries. They took a first-innings lead of 295 into Saurashtra's second innings, who finished on 33-0 at the end of play. Sammar Gajjar took five wickets in the Gujarat innings, while Chirag Jani returned figures of 4-67.
Jammu & Kashmir also extended their lead on day three. They closed the day on 180-3 with Paras Dogra unbeaten on 73 after Kerala matched their first-innings score of 280 and finished on 281. Salman Nazir was unbeaten at the end of their innings on 112, while Jalaj Saxena scored 67 off 78 balls.
Aditya Thakur endured Vidarbha held a healthy first innings lead, taking 5-34 to bowl Tamil Nadu out for 225. Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute took two wickets apiece before a sharp collapse threatened Vidarbha's position. They lost four wickets in 79 runs to finish the day on 169-5, with Yash Rathod unbeaten on 55 off 119 balls. They go into day four 297 runs ahead of Tamil Nadu with five wickets in hand.
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