Karnataka became the first team to seal a quarter-final berth in the Ranji Trophy tournament after beating Baroda by an innings and 102 runs in their Super League Group B match in Vadodara on Thursday.
Baroda skipper Irfan Pathan waged a losing battle with his 81 runs in the second innings as Karnataka claimed 11 wickets on Thursday to finish off the match inside three days.
Trailing by 351 runs, with just one wicket in hand, Baroda's first innings folded for 153 after resuming the day at 137 for nine.
Irfan was the last man out after adding 16 runs to his overnight total of 52.
Karnataka enforced the follow-on and Baroda's batsmen yet again put up a disappointing show. They were all out for 233, with Irfan yet again playing a solid knock that was not enough to save his side from defeat.
He top-scored with 81 off 79 balls.
R Vinay Kumar was the pick of the Karnataka bowlers, claiming three wickets for 47 runs.
Connor Willimas (35), Jacob Martin (30) and Ketan Panchal (25) got starts but could not build on them.
Abhimanyu Mithun (2/42), Sreesanth Aravind (2/44) and Robin Uthappa (2/22) shared six wickets among them.
Brief scores:
Karnataka (1st innings): 488 all out
Baroda: 153 and 233 (Irfan Pathan 81; R Vinay Kumar 3/47).
Rahane's unbeaten 265 puts Mumbai on top
Hyderabad: Ajinkya Rahane hit an unbeaten double century, while Sahil Kukreja and Wasim Jaffer hit individual hundreds as mighty Mumbai tightened the noose around Hyderabad's neck on Day 3 of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match.
In reply to the hosts' first innings total of 266, Mumbai rode on splendid knocks from Rahane (265 not out), Kukreja (122) and Jaffer's (107 not out) to pile up a massive 521 for 2 before declaring.
In their second essay, Hyderabad were 63 for one, with Shashank Nag (22) and Amol Shinde (2) in the middle.
Rahane hit 23 fours and two sixes en route to his unbeaten 265, which came off 382 balls.
Rahane forged two crucial partnerships -- 258 runs with Kukreja and an unbroken 236 with Jaffer as Mumbai took a massive first innings lead.
Kukreja's 234-ball knock had six fours and two sixes in it, while Jaffer hit nine fours in his 125-ball knock.
Resuming at the overnight score of 198 for one, Rahane and Kukreja completed their respective centuries before the latter fell to MP Arjun in the 86th over.
However, it did not have any bearing on Mumbai's innings, as Rahane and Jaffer milked the Hyderabad bowlers.
Brief scores:
Hyderabad (1st innings): 266 all out
Mumbai (1st innings): 521 for two declared. (S Kukreja 122, A Rahane 265, W Jaffer 107; M P Arjun 2/91).
Hyderabad (2nd innings): 63 for one (P Shashank Nag 22; R Powar 1/6).
Punjab win with more than a day to spare
Mohali: Punjab pocketed five precious points after inflicting a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Himachal Pradesh with more than one day to spare in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match on Thursday.
Chasing a meagre 94 runs for a facile victory, Punjab took less than two hours to complete the formalities, cruising to 97 for two in 29.4 overs.
Vishwas Bhalla (36) and Taruwar Kohli (12) were unbeaten.
For Himachal Pradesh, Kuldeep Diwan (2/16) got both the Punjab wickets.
Bhalla and Ravi Inder Singh (32) gave the hosts a strong start, adding 58 runs for the opening stand before Diwan came up with double strikes.
The left-arm spinner first castled Ravi Inder and then trapped Uday Kaul (12) to reduce Punjab to 80 for two.
By then, Punjab had started sniffing victory and Bhalla and Kohli completed the formality without any fuss.
It was a memorable outing for Punjab pacer Manpreet Gony, who claimed a five-for in both the Himachal innings.
Brief scores:
Himachal Pradesh: 197 and 82.
Punjab: 186 and 97 for 2.
Maharashtra set UP 423 to win
Pune: Riding on useful contributions from their batsmen, hosts Maharashtra set Uttar Pradesh a daunting target of 423 runs to clinch an improbable victory on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match.
In reply, UP got off to a flying start as they scored 41 runs in five overs, still requiring 382 runs on the final day, with surprise opener Praveen Kumar (23) and Tanmay Srivastava (4) at the crease.
Resuming at their overnight score of 102-2, Maharashtra declared their innings at 338-9, thanks to a patient knock of 95 by S D Atitkar.
Atikar, who missed out a well-deserved century, faced 214 deliveries and sent the ball across the ropes 15 times.
Apart from him, skipper H Khadiwale (54), K M Jadhav (36), A R Bawne (45), R H Motwani (26), G B Gaikwad (22), and D K Waghmare (30) made useful scores to tighten the noose on the visitors, who conceded a lead of 84 after bowling out the home team for 292 in the first innings.
For the visitors, leg spinner Piyush Chawla ended up with figures of 5-73. Left armer R P Singh claimed two, while pacers Praveen and Sudeep Tyagi shared a wicket apiece.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 292 & 338/9 decl (S D Atitkar 95, H Khadiwale 54; Piyush Chawla 5-73).
Uttar Pradesh 202 & 41 for no loss.
TN take 1st innings lead against Orissa
Sambalpur: Orissa frittered away a good start and conceded a narrow 34-run first innings lead to Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy Super League group A match.
Resuming on a comfortable 173 for one, a deficit of 183 runs, the hosts were bowled out for 327.
At stumps on day three, Tamil Nadu had consolidated their lead to 96 runs by reaching 62 for no loss in their second innings.
Srikkanth Anirudha (40) and Arun Karthik (18) were at the crease for the visitors.
At the start of the day, out of the two overnight host batsman, Shiv Sunder Das (119) completed his century while Niranjan Behera (95) missed the mark by just five runs.
R Ashwin, who got the India call-up, broke the 199-run partnership between Das and Behera when he had the latter caught by C Ganapathy.
Aushik Srinivas then ran through the middle-order, taking wickets of Rakesh Mohanty (23), RR Das (18) and A K Sahoo (7).
Yo Mahesh (2/56) also chipped in with two wickets.
Their confidence high after bundling out the hosts, Tamil Nadu made a confident start to their second innings.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu 361 and 62 for none in 17 overs.
Orissa: 327 all out.
Bisht, Sangwan Delhi the lead
New Delhi: Pradeep Sangwan (57) starred in a defiant 141-run stand with Puneet Bisht (120) and then took two crucial wickets to keep alive Delhi's hopes for an outright win against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.
Saurashtra, in their second essay, were 181 for seven at stumps with Pratip Mehta (19) and Sandip Maniar (8) in the middle.
Replying to Saurashtra's first innings total of 328, Delhi resumed on 262 for seven and their chances of taking a first innings lead looked slim.
Bisht and Sangwan, however, had other plans as they joined hands to raise 141 runs for the eighth wicket to take the score past Saurashtra's total.
Both eventually fell in quick succession but the job was done by then.
Bisht's 169-ball knock had 18 fours in it, while Sangwan's 57 came off 117 balls with the help of five boundaries and a six.
For Saurashtra, Jayesh Odedra returned six wickets for 92.
Saurashtra fumbled in their second essay, losing opener Sagar Jogiyani (0) in the third over when Sangwan and Bisht collaborated to plot his peril.
Sangwan went on to remove Saurashtra run-machine Cheteshwar Pujara (29) to deal a body blow.
For the visitors, Chirag Pathak (43), Shitanshu Kotak (32) and Jaydev Shah (39) got teh starts but could not convert it.
Sangwan (2/41), Pawan Suyal (2/29), Parwinder Awana (2/39) and Sumit Narwal (1/41) shared seven wickets among themselves.
Brief scores:
Saurashtra: 328 & 181 for 7
Delhi 383.
