Ranji Trophy Day 3 Round-Up: Kerala stun Saurashtra; Mumbai secure quarter-final berth with big chase

Karnataka enforced a follow-on against Delhi

Kerala secured a stunning win against Saurashtra, beating them by 45 runs in their Group C encounter in Malappuram, on Wednesday. Chasing a very low target of 115 runs, Saurashtra collapsed to 69 all out, to hand the hosts, a famous victory. Saurashtra would have fancied their chances, after dismissing Kerala to 105, in their second innings. But the Kerala bowlers came out all guns blazing, and made the low target look much difficult. Karaparambil Monish was the wrecker-in-chief for Kerala picking up 5 wickets, in addition to his 6-wicket haul in the first innings. Brief Score: Kerala (toss) 166 (Jagadeesh 59, D Jadeja 5-44) and 105 (D Jadeja 6-59) beat Saurashtra 157 (Vyas 54, Monish 6-81) and 69 (Monish 5-46) by 45 runs. Meanwhile, in Indore, Mumbai chased down Madhya Pradesh’s big target of 280, to secure their place in the quarter-final of the domestic tournament. After Jay Bista’s knock of 74 atop the order, Iqbal Abdulla and Shardul Thakur helped the visitors comfortably overhaul the target. Mumbai 162 (Saxena 5-66, Ankit 5-80) and 283 for 7 (Bista 74, Tare 45, Abdulla 39*, Thakur 38*) beat MP (toss) 240 (Bhatia 59, Jaiswal 4-63) and 201 (Saxena 79) by three wickets. Andhra, captained by Mohammad Kaif, suffered their third loss in seven games, as they were comprehensively beaten by Railways. Chasing a stiff target of 273, the visitors never looked confident of achieving the target, and were eventually bowled out for 124, thus handing Railways a 148-run win. Railways 182 (Kishore 5-76) and 204 (A Yadav 62) beat Andhra (toss) 114 (K Sharma 5-30) and 123 (Bharat 32, Anureet 4-32) by 148 runs. Defending champions Karnataka enforced a follow-on against Delhi in Hubli, in their Group A match. After the hosts posted a mammoth total of 542 in the first innings, Delhi started well, but struggled to get the runs flowing. Skipper Gautam Gambhir was the top scorer with 75, as Delhi finished with 301, in their first innings. At stumps on day three, Delhi were 22/0 in their second innings, still trailing Karnataka by 214 runs. Delhi (toss) 301 (Gambhir 75, Manan 56, Rawal 54) and 22 for 0 vs Karnataka 542 (Uthappa 148, Agarwal 118, Pandey 81). (Delhi following-on)Other results at the end of Day Three: Haryana 112 (Pankaj 4-10, Bhatia 3-41) and 287 for 6 (Saini 146, Hooda 56, Pankaj 3-73) vs Rajasthan (toss) 279 (M Sharma 5-56). Maharashtra (toss) 160 for 6 (Tripathi 52, Krishna Das 4-58) vs Assam 298 (Karthick 130, G Sharma 76, Mundhe 4-67).

Punjab 272 (Siddana 85, Khera 74, Praveen 4-81, Rajpoot 3-60) and 244 for 6 (Mandeep 84, Kaul 89*) vs Uttar Pradesh (toss) 226 (Umang 49, Kaul 4-82).

J&K (toss) 325 for 5 (ID Singh 115, Mahas 95*) vs Goa 552 for 5 decl. (Asnodkar 232, Desai 106, Kamat 105).

Tripura (toss) 237 (A Das 73, Murasingh 51, Ravi Kiran 3-45, Milind 3-50) and 25 for 0 vs Hyderabad 548 for 5 decl. (Vihari 219, Sandeep 93, Anirudh 78) (Tripura following-on). No play was possible between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in Tirunalveli for the third straight day, due to rain.