Mandeep hits 204*, Punjab eye win

PATIALA, December 19

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Punjab are in sight of victory after they reduced Hyderabad to 30/5 after declaring at 443/6 on Day 3 of their Group A match. The visitors are staring at disaster as they need 171 more to make Punjab bat again.

Punjab captain Mandeep Singh posted a mammoth 204 not out off 301 balls with the help of 22 boundaries and three sixes. Wicketkeeper Anmol Malhotra scored 60 runs in 112 balls with the help of eight fours and one six. Debutant Karan Kaila also hit an unbeaten half-century (54).

In reply, Hyderabad were 30/5 in 23 overs with C Milind and H Agarwal (14) at the crease. At the end of Day 3, the visitors trailed by 171 runs. Debutant Akul Pandove bagged two wickets in the second innings after going wicketless in the first innings.

HP hand Tamil Nadu

71-run defeat

Dindigul: Left-arm spinner Akash Vashisht bowled Himachal Pradesh to a 71-run win over Tamil Nadu by bagging 7 wickets in the second innings of their Ranji Trophy Group B match. Needing 217 for victory after spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (4/55) helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Himachal for 154 in the second innings, the home team was bowled out for 145 in 67.5 overs. The Ankit Kalsi-led Himachal Pradesh picked up six points to bounce back from a defeat to Saurashtra in their season-opener.

Resuming at 133/7, Himachal added only 21 more runs to the overnight score as Ashwin bagged four wickets to end with a match haul of 9/120. K Vignesh (2/19) and R Sai Kishore (2/23) finished with two wickets each.

Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt in the chase as the experienced Abhinav Mukund fell for a first-ball duck to Vaibhav Arora. Sai Kishore, pushed up the order, survived for 24 deliveries before nicking one to the slips. This brought together debutant K Mukunth (48) and V Ganga Sridhar Raju (21) and the duo added 40 runs in a little over 19 overs as the home team pushed forward. Sridhar Raju fell to Vashisht, caught at slips by Prashant Chopra. Thereafter only skipper B Aparajith (43*) put up a fight even as the rest of the line-up caved in against the relentless spin bowling by Vashisht and the other tweakers. From 121/5, Tamil Nadu were all out for 145 as Vashisht ran through the lower-order to ensure Tamil Nadu’s second straight defeat.

Maha 192/5 vs J&K

Pune: Jammu and Kashmir nosed ahead on the third day of their Group C match against Maharashtra with late wickets as the hosts reached 192/5 in 56.4 overs, requiring 172 more runs for a win. — TNS, PTI

Ranji Trophy

Brief scores

Himachal Pradesh: 158 & 154 (S Verma 36, Rishi Dhawan 35; R Ashwin 4/55, T Natarajan 2/19); Tamil Nadu: 96 & 145 (K Mukunth 48; Akash Vashisht 7/33, Rishi Dhawan 1/13)

Hyderabad: 242 & 30/5 (C Milind 0, H Agarwal 14; A Pandove 2/13); Punjab: 443/6 decl. in 108 overs (Mandeep Singh 204*, Anmol Malhotra 80, Karan Kaila 54; Mohammed Siraj 4/77)

Jammu & Kashmir: 209 & 263 all out in 71.3 over (Suryansh Raina 83, Abdul Samad 78, Fazil Rashid 43; DR Deshmukh 4/46, SS Bachhav 3/35); Maharashtra: 109 & 192/5 in 56.4 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 71, MS Trunkwala 54, Ankit Bawane 31*)

Uttarakhand: 120 & 174/3 in 74 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 58, Avneesh Sudha 37); Chhattisgarh: 520/7 decl. in 122 overs (AN Khare 192, Ajay Mandal 241*; Pradeep Chamoli 4/95)