Ignored in the first two games, all-rounder Sumit Mathur showed his prowess with a patient century to put Delhi in sight of an outright victory against Assam on the third day of a Group D Ranji Trophy match here on Monday. Starting the day at an uncomfortable 214 for 6 in reply to Assam’s 330, left-handed Mathur (112 off 230 balls) first added 99 for the seventh wicket with India’s new pace bowling find Harshit Rana (59 off 78 balls) and then another 166 for the eighth wicket with Siddhanth Sharma (89 off 128 balls) to take the first innings score to 454. The last four wickets added 272 runs.
Buoyed by a handy lead of 124 runs and three points ensured, Delhi pacers Harshit and Money Grewal bowled briskly to reduce Assam to 44 for 3 in the second innings.
Even if Assam bat well enough to surpass Delhi’s score, the home team would expect that they keep the target to a minimum and has enough time on the final day to eke out a result. With four points from first two games, Delhi is in search of at least six points if not seven.
The day belonged to Sumit, who was not picked against Chattisgarh and Tamil Nadu despite, nine wickets on his Ranji debut last season.
The century on the day was a testimony to his application as he grounded the Assam bowling with help of Harshit and Siddhant.
Harshit, who is in India squad for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, topped up his five-wicket haul with some lusty blows, which included sixes over long-on, long-off and mid-wicket. Left-handed Sumit played his own game as he hit 10 fours and two sixes.
The partnership with Siddhant was an exhilarating one as the left-arm fast bowler repeatedly drove through the covers.
Vidarbha vs Uttarakhand
Fifties by Yash Rathod and Dhruv Shorey helped Vidarbha continue their dominance, carrying them to 255 for six in the second innings against Uttarakhand after the third day of their Ranji Trophy match here on Monday.
Vidarbha lead by 292 runs at stumps after bowling out the hosts, who resumed from 242 for seven, for 289 to garner a small yet important first innings lead of 37 runs.
But that slender nature of the lead mandated that Vidarbha should bat well in their second dig and Shorey (59, 114b, 5×4) took over that job, making a patient half-century.
Shorey’s prudence and Danish Malewar’s aggression (42, 63b, 7×4) sat together well and helped Vidarbha overcome a jittery start.
The visitors had lost opener Atharva Taide and one-down Aman Mokhade while adding just 24.
But the third wicket alliance worth 64 between Shorey and Malewar eased Vidarbha’s nerves before the latter got out.
Shorey built another 68 runs for the fourth wicket alongside first-innings centurion Rathod (56, 75b, 3×4) as Vidarbha went past the 150-mark and the overall lead also neared 200.
However, Swapnil Singh ousted Shorey to keep Uttarakhand afloat.
But Akshay Karnewar struck an unbeaten 30 off 55 balls to take Vidarbha past the 250-mark as they stretched their lead close to 300.
Skipper Akshay Wadkar (16 batting) is giving company to him at close and Vidarbha will be eager to add a few more runs to the lead on the final day to keep their position and points safe.
Earlier, a four-wicket haul by veteran off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (4/62) helped Vidarbha earn a first innings lead.
Tripura vs Mumbai
Tripura pacers Manisankar Murasingh and Abhijit Sarkar rattled Mumbai in the closing minutes on day three by removing both their openers to leave the defending champions reeling at 7 for 2 in a Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Monday. The 42-time champions had scored 450 in their first innings and then bundled out Tripura for 302 runs, thanks to young spinner Himanshu Singh’s six-wicket haul (6/65), swelled their lead to 155, they could be in trouble if they lose early wickets on Tuesday.
A gutsy 14th first-class century by Tripura’s veteran batter Jiwanjot Singh (118 off 188 balls, 15×4) and resolute half-tons in the middle-order by Sridam Paul (52, 100 balls) and captain Mandeep Singh (62 not out, 90 balls) saw the hosts bat stoutly all day long after starting at the overnight score of 60/1.
Their intrepid batting against the likes of India bowler Shardul Thakur and Shams Mulani saw Tripura cross the 300-run mark late into the post-team session and cut Mumbai’s lead to 148 runs.
With three overs remaining in the day, Tripura pressed their new-ball bowlers Sarkar (1/4) and Manisankar (1/3) who quickly made an impact, getting rid of Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6) and Ayush Mhatre (1), who was caught behind by Sharath Srinivas.
However, with the seasoned skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul yet to come, Tripura will unlikely get a cakewalk on the fourth morning.
The hero of the day was undoubtedly Jiwanjot, who moved to Tripura from Uttarakhand this year after spending most of his domestic career with Punjab.
The soon-to-be 34 cricketer, who could reach the 6,000 first-class run mark if he continues to play in the same vein this season, came up with a polished century as he weathered the early onslaught that saw Parvez Sultan (6) and Tejasvi Jaiswal (4) depart quickly.
He finally got a stable partnership going with Sridam Paul which yielded 89 runs before the veteran of 94 first-class games departed, bowled by left-arm spinner Mulani.
A steady 40-run fifth-wicket stand between Paul and Mandeep saw Tripura motor on before they were all out for 302 with Mumbai’s Himanshu being the chief wrecker. Mulani had fighres of 3/88 in 37 overs.
At stumps, Mumbai’s Royston Dias (0) and Mohit Awasthi (0) were at the crease.
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Assam 330 and 2nd Innings 44/3 (Harshit Rana 1/18). Delhi 1st Innings 454 (Sumit Mathur 112, Siddhanth Sharma 89, Harshit Rana 59, Rahul Singh 4/108).
In Coimbatore: Chattisgarh 500. Tamil Nadu 1st Innings 259 all out (C Andre Siddarth 55, M Shahrukh Khan 50, Shubham Agarwal 5/62 in 18.2 overs). TN (f/o) 2nd Innings 71/1 (C Andre Siddharth 36).
In Rajkot: Railways 234 and 141. Saurashtra 196 and (target 180) 142 all out (Ayan Chaudhari 5/53, Karn Sharma 4/39). Railways won by 38 runs.
In Dehradun: Vidarbha 326 and 255/6 in 67 overs (Dhruv Shorey 59, Danish Malewar 42, Yash Rathod 56; Swapnil Singh 2/74) vs Uttarakhand: 289 all out in 107.2 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 119; Akshay Wakhare 4/62).
In Visakhapatnam: Andhra 344 all out in 92.4 overs vs Himachal Pradesh 478/9 in 150 overs (Ankit Kalsi 53, Akash Vasisht 52; Rishi Dhawan 195, Mukul Negi 42; KV Sasikanth 4/101, PVSN Raju 3/125).
In Jaipur: Gujarat 335 all out in 97.4 overs and 129/4 in 47 overs (Umang 44 batting, AV Choudhary 3/25) vs Rajasthan 335 all out in 97.4 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 77; ZA Khan 44, Ajay Kookna 47, AA Khan 42; Arsan Nagwaswalla 3/99, Jaymeet patel 3/26).
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 536/8 declared in 163 overs vs Puducherry 153 all out in 49.2 overs (Ajay Rohera 27; G Anikethreddy 6/56) and 171/2 in 47 overs (V Ganga Sridhar 61, Ajay Rohera 69).
In Agartala: Mumbai: 450 & 7 for 2 in 3 overs vs Tripura 302 in 95.4 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 118, Sridam Paul 52, Mandeep Singh 62; Himanshu Singh 6/65, Shams Mulani 3/88).
In Vadodara: Odisha 193 & 165 in 34 overs (Anurag Sarangi 49, Kartik Biswal 53; Ninad Rathva 6/60) lost to Maharashtra 456 in 128.4 overs (Shivalik Sharma 96, Vishnu Solanki 98, Krunal Pandya 119; Govinda Poddar 5/131) by an innings and 98 runs.
In Aurangabad: Meghalaya 276 and 157 for 8 in 49 overs (Balchander Anirudh 36; Mukesh Choudhary 3/41, Pradeep Dadhe 2/29) vs Maharashtra 361 all out in 106.2 overs (Harshal Kate 128, Azim Kazi 66, Mandar Bhandari 73; Akash Choudhary 4/76).
Points: Railways 6. Saurashtra 0.
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