Propelled by Shreyas Gopal’s unbeaten 150, Karnataka were on top at the end of Day 3 in Vidarbha against Mumbai. The Vinay Kumar-led team have further strengthened their stranglehold in the all-important game.
Bengal too are in an advantageous against defending champions Gujarat. After the Ashok Dinda-led attack bowled the team to a first innings lead, A Eswaran has continued from where he left in the previous innings. The opener was seven runs short of a century when play ended for the day.
Delhi and Vidarbha too have secured a first innings lead against Madhya Pradesh and Kerala respectively.
Here are the highlights Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Quarter-finals - Day 3:
Karnataka vs Mumbai in Vidarbha: Having conceded a massive first innings lead, Mumbai were trailing by 277 runs with seven wickets in hand at the of third day’s play. Shreyas Gopal’s sparkling 150 not out pushed Mumbai further back into the corner.
After resuming the Karnataka innings on 395 for six in the morning with Vinay Kumar, Gopal anchored the team to 570 until he ran out of partners. The Karnataka skipper was the first to return to the dressing room in the morning. A forward diving low catch by Akash Parkar at mid-on off Shivam Malhotra saw the back of Vinay leaving the side on 405 for seven. After 73 runs later, Dhawal Kulkarni’s efforts bore fruit as Gowtham K departed taking the aerial route. And the pacer disrupted Abhimanyu Mithun’s woodwork off the next ball to leave Karnataka on 478 for nine.
However, Arvind Sreenath had other plans. After denying Kulkarni a hat-trick, the No 11 bat went on to plunder runs off the Mumbai attack. Gopal and Arvind Sreenath piled on runs at a brisk pace. While the middle-order batsman brought up his 150, Mithun registered a half-century. Their flourishing stand ended with Malhotra castling the tail-ender. The onslaught helped Karnataka to a solid 397-run lead.
Mumbai’s woes continued as Gowtham bowled Jay Bista for 20 leaving Mumbai on 30 for one. In the next over, Arvind Sreenath knocked Prithvi Shaw’s stumps with the team on 34. Suryakumar Yadav then joined Akhil Herwadkar in the middle, but their blossoming partnership was ended for 80. Gowtham accounted for the No 3 bat to leave Mumbai on 114 for three.
Yadav then took Mumbai to stumps at 120 for three with Parkar.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/85
Kerala vs Vidarbha in Surat: R Gurbani claimed a five-for to help Vidarbha secure a 70-run first innings lead.
After Kerala resumed their innings on 32 for two on the third morning, Karn Sharma gave Vidarbha their first breakthrough of the day. The spinner removed Rohan Prem to leave the opponents on 71 for three. 44 runs later, A Sarvate gave Vidarbha a vital breakthrough with the wicket of Sanju Samson while A Wakhare followed up with the crucial wicket of Jalaj Saxena to leave Kerala on 117 for five.
Gurbani then ran through the lower-order to bowl Kerala out for 176. The pacer claimed KB Arun Karthick to leave the side on 165 for six and in his next over accounted for Sachin Baby. He then followed up with the wickets of Basil Thampi and Akshay KC while Salman Nazir was run out.
Building on the lead, Vidarbha were 77 for one at Stumps. Faiz Fazal was batting on 51 with Wakhare on seven.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/86
Delhi vs Madhya Pradesh in Vijayawada: Bowled out for 405 runs, Delhi seized a 67-run first innings lead in the ongoing knock-out game against MP.
12 runs into the third day’s play, overnight batsman Kunal Chandela (81) was sent back by Ishwar Pandey leaving Delhi on 192 for three.
Rishabh Pant then joined forces with Nitish Rana to keep the innings on course. The pair had added 64 runs for the fourth wicket when Mihir Hiwani caught Rana off his own bowling. A while later, the spinner also claimed the wicketkeeper-batsman to leave Delhi on 277 for five. Himmat Singh played a determined knock to help Delhi surpass MP’s first innings total as he built valuable stands with the batsmen to follow. The batsman had registered 71 off 138 when he was sent back by Ankit Sharma leaving Delhi on 388 for eight. Hirwani then wrapped up the Delhi innings for 405 by accounting for the last two wickets as well. The spinner finished with a five-for in the innings.
Vikas Tokas then caught Rajat Patidar off his own bowling and 36 runs later, ran out Ankit Dane to leave MP on 46 for two. Shumbham Sharma and Puneet Datey were at the crease when play ended for the day.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/87Gujarat vs Bengal in Jaipur: Bowled out for 224, defending champions Gujarat conceded a 130-run first innings lead to Bengal in Jaipur. When play ended for the day, Bengal were leading by 307 runs with nine wickets in hand.
Building on the lead, A Eswaran had helped Bengal to 177 for one until the end of day’s play with a patient batting display. After the departure of Abhishek Kumar Raman (33 off 118) with the team on 99, the opener forged another solid stand with Writtick Chatterjee.
At stumps, Easwaran was on 93 off 218 while Chatterjee was batting on 40.
Resuming their wobbly innings on 180 for six, Gujarat continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. R Bhatt was bowled by P Pramanik leaving the side on 219 for seven. A bit later Ashok Dinda accounted for Piyush Chawla and S Desai of successive overs to leave the team on 223 for nine. Ishan Porel then wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Ishwar Chaudhary.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/88 
