A round-up of the third day’s play of the eighth-round Group C games of the Ranji Trophy 2013-14
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Ankit Bawne’s unbeaten 138 put Maharashtra in a strong position•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Andhra wrapped up their first win of the season and took a bonus point for their efforts, after they bowled Tripura out for 86 in their second innings to set up a ten-wicket victory in Agartala. Medium-pacer Duvvarapu Shivkumar took four wickets to run through Tripura, who had a 16-run first-innings lead and were 20 for 3 overnight, leaving Andhra a fourth-innings chase of 103.They overhauled this target in just 21.2 overs, with Srikar Bharat striking eight fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 70-ball 64. Prasanth Kumar provided him support, staying not out on 39.
ScorecardMaharashtra continued to make inroads against Himachal Pradesh in Pune, as an unbeaten 138 from Ankit Bawne lifted the team to 488 and helped the team secure a mammoth first-innings lead of 260. Bawne, who began the day at 76, put up big stands with Chirag Khurana, Shrikant Mundhe and Akshay Darekar, who all chipped in with handy scores as Maharashtra eventually declared for the loss of six wickets after 145 overs.Himachal then suffered an early blow in their second innings as the opener Prashant Chopra was trapped lbw by Anupam Sanklecha in the sixth over. Varun Sharma and Paras Dogra, however, led the recovery, adding 74 runs and batting the remaining 34 overs of the day without losing a wicket. The visitors though still need another 162 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
Scorecard The match between Kerala and Goa was nicely balanced going into the final day, with the home side needing 97 runs with five wickets remaining in Porvorim. Chasing 179, Goa were 72 for 3 when Kerala struck twice late in the day to leave them 82 for 5. Wicketkeeper Keenan Vaz was at the crease at stumps, batting on 33.The day began with Kerala starting their second innings with a 31-run lead. They were soon 55 for 6, before Vinoop Manoharan and Padmanabhan Prasanth made 40s and put on 83 for the seventh wicket. Once Goa broke that stand, the innings quickly folded, with the last four wickets falling for just nine runs. Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati was Goa’s most successful bowler, with figures of 4 for 44.
ScorecardHyderabad enforced their dominance against Jammu & Kashmir at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground by powering to 514 for 8, before reducing the hosts 198 for 6 on the penultimate day.Dwaraka Ravi Teja top-scored for Hyderabad with 179 before being stumped by the keeper Obaid Haroon off Parvez Rasool, who notched four scalps. The visitors however were propelled by another big score- 97 from Amol Shinde- that took them close to the 500-run mark. They eventually declared after 118 overs.J&K, in reply, made a decent start thanks to a second-wicket partnership of 71 between Haroon and Bandeep Singh, but once Bandeep folded for 58, the team lost wickets at quick intervals and were left in a precarious position- trailing by 316 runs- heading into the final day.Mehdi Hassan was the pick of Hyderabad’s bowlers, finishing the day with 3 for 55. With an outright win unlikely since the entire first day’s play was called off due to rain, Hyderabad will look to bundle J&K out quickly to garner three crucial points by a first-innings lead.