Tamil Nadu secured a first innings lead against Gujarat and with it three points to strengthen their position in the points table. With the match heading towards a draw, Gujarat will receive one point and both teams are likely to finish with 26 points each. Kaushik Gandhi’s marathon innings (150* off 439 balls) helped Tamil Nadu stake a claim for a spot in the knockouts.
The Aditya Tare-led team however, has been pushed on the back foot by Punjab. With their first innings coming to an early end, the table-toppers were asked to follow on, but regardless of the result, Mumbai will qualify for the next phase.
Group A Round 9 – Day 3 Round-up:
Punjab vs Mumbai in Rajkot: Punjab 1st inn 468/10 in 169.5 overs (M Siddana 115, G Mann 93, S Yadav 4/47, T Deshpande 2/71); Mumbai 1st inn 185/9 in 60.3 overs (S Thakur 70, S Shaikh 67, MS Grewal 4/39, R Golu 2/43); F/o Mum 2nd inn 94/2 in 35 overs (S Iyer 59*, S Kaul 1/9) Trail by 189 runs
In reply to Punjab’s 468 runs in the first innings, Mumbai were restricted to 185 for nine by Punjab and asked to follow on. After resuming on eight for two, they were reduced to 37 for five in the morning with the top five back in the pavilion. Shardul Thakur, who had joined his team again, then built a partnership with Sufiyan Shaikh in an effort to keep the innings afloat. The pair stitched a 101-run stand until Rajwinder Golu struck to end the partnership. He claimed Thakur for 70 to reduce Mumbai to 138 for six.
Shaikh continued to rally on but with Gurkeerat Mann accounting for Vishal Dabholkar and MS Grewal sending back Tushar Deshpande, Mumbai were 152 for eight. The batsman then took the team to 185 with Royston Dias until he was sent back by Golu for 67. And with Shubham Ranjane retired hurt, Mumbai’s first innings ended for 185.
Asked to follow on, Mumbai then lost Kaustubh Pawar with 16 runs on the board. Shreyas Iyer then took the side to 88 with Armaan Jaffer until the later was bowled by Golu. Iyer (59*) took Mumbai to stumps with 94 for two with Dabholkar.
Baroda vs Uttar Pradesh in Nashik: UP 1st inn 481/10 in 115 overs (K Yadav 117, S Kumar 105, I Ahmed 41*, S Manglorkar 3/89); Baroda 1st inn 458/10 in 121.1 overs (K Devdhar 157, S Singh 95, IK Pathan 81, I Ahmed 4/126); UP 2nd inn 117/0 in 31 overs (A Shaukat 61*, S Chaudhary 55*) Lead by 140 runs
Uttar Pradesh seized a first innings lead by bowling Baroda out for 458 on Day 3. Having resumed the innings on 242 for five, Kedar Devdhar and Irfan Pathan took the side to 295 until the captain was sent back by Praveen Kumar for 81. The opener, who had resumed his innings on 120 in the morning, then looked to forge another partnership with Swapnil Singh. He had carried the side to 348 when he was trapped lbw by Imitiaz Ahmed for 157.
97 runs later, as he strove to keep the innings in fray, Swapnil was dismissed for 95 by Kuldeep Yadav. The spinner then followed up with the wicket of S Manglorkar while Tushar Arothe was run out. As the match heads towards a draw, UP are 117 without loss at stumps.
Madhya Pradesh vs Bengal in Palam, New Delhi: Bengal 1st inn 475/9 decl (S Goswami 225*, A Easwaran 80, P Datey 4/105); MP 1st inn 363/8 in 89 overs (A Sharma 90*, R Patidar 86, I Pandey 63, S Gosh 4/87) Trail by 112 runs
Resuming their innings on 19 for one, Madhya Pradesh were 363 for eight at stumps and trailing by 112 runs. Rajat Patidar’s 86 in the top order followed by solid knocks from the lower-order helped keep the MP innings afloat. While Ishwar Pandey made 63, Ankit Sharma was batting on 90 (off 131 balls) with Naman Ojha on 40 when play ended for the day.
Tamil Nadu vs Gujarat in Belgaum: Gujarat 1st inn 307/10 in 112 overs (A Patel 44, T Natarajan 3/86); TN 1st inn 397/4 in 156 overs (K Gandhi 150*, B Indrajith 66, V Shankar 35*, P Panchal 1/28) Lead by 90 runs
Kaushik Gandhi (150* off 439 balls) anchored the Tamil Nadu innings to a solid first innings lead and helped strengthen the team’s position in the points table. Batting on 43 when play began on Day 3, he resumed the innings on 154 for two with Baba Indrajith. The pair had taken the side to 270 when Indrajith returned to the pavilion for 66.
The No 3 bat however, continued to carry the innings forward and was batting with Vijay Shankar when play ended for the day.
