The third round Ranji Trophy saw most teams registering comfortable wins over their opponents. Railways, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab got bonus points in their respective games.
In Group A, Assam took on Madhya Pradesh at Guwahati. Assam was invited to bat by Railways. Good bowling by Railways pace bowlers consisting of Anureet Singh, DN Bansal, and ACP Mishra took 10 wickets between them dismissing Assam for 244. Railways posted a massive 483 for 7 declared as Wakaskar, SS Shukla, NS Bhiile, AN Ghosh and Ashish Yadav made big totals.
In Assam second innings, Anureet Singh was at his best taking 5 for 28 to bowl the hosts for paltry 55 runs on the 3rd day. Railways won the match by an innings and 184 runs to register their second outright win of the tournament.
Karnataka defeated Hyderabad by 59 runs on the fourth and final day at Shimoga. On the first day, Karnataka was dismissed for 183 runs. Mohammed Siraj picked 4 for 42 and for Karnataka Stuart Binny was the top scorer with 61. It was a poor batting display by Hyderabad in their first innings as they were bowled out for 136. B Sumanth showed some resistance with 68 while for Hyderabad, Shreyas Gopal picked 5 for 17 in 9.4 overs. Karnataka had a lead of 57 runs.
Karun Nair scored 134, Stuart Binny 72, helped Karnataka to post 332 runs in the second innings giving Hyderabad a target of 380. M Hasan picked 5 wickets for Hyderabad while Siraj took bowled only 3 overs. Needing 228 runs on the final day, Hyderabad were bowled out Karnataka for 320. BP Sandeep was top scorer with 80 and Ashish Reddy remained not out on 57. K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal picked 7 wickets between them. With this win, Karnataka went to the top of points table with 13 points in 2 games.
It was an exciting match between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra played at Lucknow. Maharashtra batted first and posted 312 runs with contributions from Ankit Bawne, Motwani and Gaikwad. For Uttar Pradesh, Saurabh Kumar picked 7 for 110. UP batsmen could not score many runs as they were dismissed for 271. Suresh Raina was dismissed for 0. Chirag Khurana took 6 for 53.
Maharashtra had a lead of 41 runs. Maharashtra declared their innings on 282 for 7 giving Uttar Pradesh a target of 324. Despite Rinku Singh 122 not out, AD Nath 79, Maharashtra dismissed UP for 292. Chirag Khurana picked 6 for 131. The visitors won the match by 31 runs.
In Group B, Jharkhand defeated Haryana at Ranchi. Haryana won the toss and elected to bat first, were bowled out for 208. SG Rohila 52, C Bishnoi 61 were the only batsmen for Haryana to score some runs. Sunny Gupta picked 4 wickets. Ishank Jaggi 135, Ishan Kishan 83, S Nadeem 70 helped Jharkhand to declare their innings on 425 for 9.
Haryana could score many runs in the second innings too. S Nadeem picked 6 for 93 to bowl out Haryana for 296. Jharkhand chased down the target of 80 runs in less than 11 over’s.
Gujarat took on Jammu and Kashmir in Surat. Jammu and Kashmir won the toss, elected to bat first. J and K batsmen could not post many runs as they were dismissed for 261. Piyush Chawla picked 5 wickets for 92.
Manprit Juneja 131, CJ Gandhi 86, PK Panchal 61, helped Gujarat to post 455. For J and K, M Gupta, Parveez Rasool were top wicket-takers. Jammu and Kashmir were bowled out for 130 runs in their second innings. For Gujarat, HP Patel picked 5 for 49 and Piyush Chawla picked 4 wickets. Gujarat won by an innings and 64 runs to register their second win.
In the final match of Group B, Kerala took on Rajasthan at Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala batted first and posted 335 runs with contributions from Jalaj Saxena, PR Prem, Sachin Baby. MK Lomror picked 4 wickets. Rajasthan was bowled out for 243 in their first innings. Jalaj Saxena picked 8 for 85.
Kerala declared their innings on 250 for 4 declared. Jalaj Saxena scored 105 not out and Sanju Samson 72 setting a target of 343 for Rajasthan. Rajasthan was dismissed for 211. R Bist was the top scorer with 70 runs for Rajasthan. Kerala won the match by 131 runs.
In Group C, Andhra Pradesh took on Odisha at Vizianagaram. Andhra Pradesh scored a massive 584 for 5 declared. Hanuma Vihari played a marathon innings of 302 not out. Odisha was bowled out for 391. GB Poddar scored 111, Senapati 91 and BP Samantray 72 was not enough. Following on, Odisha saved from a defeat as they could score 152 for 7. Andhra Pradesh earned 3 points while Odisha 1.
Mumbai took on Tamil Nadu in Mumbai. Mumbai batted first. Prithvi Shaw scored 123 and other batsmen contributed important runs to post 374. R Ashwin picked 3 wickets in the first innings. Tamil Nadu posted 450 with Baba Indrajith scored 152, Washington Sundar 69 and YO Mahesh 103 not out helped Tamil Nadu to go past Mumbai score.
Mumbai declared their innings on 371 for 5. Shreyas Iyer and Hardwear scored centuries. Tamil Nadu registered 3 points and Mumbai 1.
Madhya Pradesh defeated Tripura by 10 wickets at Agartala. Tripura won the toss and batted first. Only Bishal Ghosh and Gurinder Singh scored runs. Tripura was bowled out for 205. Madhya Pradesh posted 260 runs in the first innings. Rajat Patidar 79, Harpreet Singh 70 and Ishwar Pandey 47 helped MP to get a lead 55 runs.
Tripura was dismissed for 130 in the second innings. Rajesh Bank was the top scorer with 29 runs. Mihir Hirwani took 5 wickets and Ankit Sharma 4 wickets were the main wicket-takers. Madhya Pradesh chased down the target of 52 without losing a wicket. MP registered a bonus point.
In Group D, Punjab posted an innings win over Goa at Program. Punjab batted first and posted a massive 635 runs. Jiwanjot Singh scored 235, Anmolpreet Singh and Gurkeerat Singh centuries helped the visitors to post a massive total. Goa was bowled out for 246 and 256 in both of their innings. Punjab won the match by an innings and 133 runs to register their first win of the tournament.
Himachal Pradesh took on Services in Palam. HP won the toss and batted first. Nikhil Gangta scored 130, Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra helped HP to post 364. Vikas Yadav picked 5 wickets for Services. Services were bowled out for 215 in their first innings. Nitin Tanwar was top scorer with 55 runs.
In their second innings, HP declared their innings on 176 for 9 giving Services a target of 326. Chasing the target, Services were dismissed for 228. Gurvinder Singh picked 6 wickets for 52. Himachal Pradesh won the match by 97 runs and earned 6 points.
In the final match, Chattisgarh took on Vidarbha at Nagpur. Chattisgarh earned 3 points. In the first innings, Chhattisgarh posted 489 runs. AN Khare scored a double century and Ashutosh Singh scored 113 runs. Vidarbha scored 435 with the century from Faiz Faizal and contributions from other batsmen. Chhattisgarh had a lead of 54 runs. On the final day, Chhattisgarh ended on 195 for 9. The visitors earned 3 points and Vidarbha 1 point.
