CHENNAI: A professional display by Tamil Nadu enabled them to defeat Saurashtra by an innings and 33 runs on the third day of the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy played at Coimbatore on Sunday. Man of the Match R Sai Kishore, with 4/27 (match haul 9/93) in the second innings, was once again in his element to fashion one of the memorable wins of his career as the captain of Tamil Nadu.
Although Tamil Nadu could add only 38 runs to its overnight score of 300 runs, the 155-run lead proved decisive.
Saurashtra in their second essay, barring Cheteshwar Pujara (46), were bowled out for 122. “Very pleased with the performance of the boys. They gave a professional display and I am very excited and thrilled that our team has got to the semifinals,’’ said Sai Kishore.
Vidarbha in command
Nagpur: Yash Thakur and Aditya Sarwate shone bright as Vidarbha moved into a commanding position against Karnataka after swelling their lead to 224 runs on the third day their quarterfinal on Sunday.
Left-arm spinner Sarwate (3/50) and pacer Thakur (3/48) shared six wickets equally among them as Karnataka were bundled out for 286 in their first innings. It helped the hosts take a lead of 174 runs and Vidarbha closed day three at 50 for no loss in their second innings.
MP, Andhra set for a thriller
Indore: The quarterfinal between Madhya Pradesh and Andhra was evenly poised at stumps on the third day on Sunday, with both the teams having an equal opportunity to win the game. Andhra were placed precariously at 95/4 and requiring another 75 runs to win with two days left, while the task for the hosts MP would be to take the remaining six wickets.
Lead for Mumbai
Mumbai: Mumbai were ahead by 57 runs at stumps after Baroda conceded a slender lead in the first innings, despite tons from Shashwat Rawat and Vishnu Solanki on Day 3 of their ongoing quarterfinal.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 183 & 122 in 75.4 ovs (Pujara 46; Sai Kishore 4/27) lost to Tamil Nadu 338; Vidarbha 460 & 50 for no loss in 14 ovs vs Karnataka 286 in 90.3 ovs (Jose 82, Samarth 59; Thakur 3/48, Sarwate 3/50); Mumbai 384 & 21/1 in 12 ovs vs Baroda 348 (Jyotsnil 32, Rawat 124, Solanki 136; Mulani 4/121); Madhya Pradesh 234 & 107 in 40.5 ovs (Mantri 43; Reddy 4/28, Mohan 3/20, Sasikanth 3/20) vs Andhra 172 & 95/4 in 44 ovs (Vihari 43 batting; Agarwal 2/22).