File photo: Abhinav Mukund’s century contained 26 fours and one six © PTI
Abhinav Mukund‘s second successive first-class ton led Tamil Nadu‘s strong response to Uttar Pradesh‘s 524 in Dharamsala. Abhinav, the captain, made 154 off 249 balls, which was studded with 26 fours and one six, while Dinesh Karthik and B Indrajith stroked fifties to lift their team to 398 for 6. Indrajith was unbeaten on 70 off 76 balls at stumps. Fast bowler Ankit Rajpoot returned two wickets for Uttar Pradesh. Tamil Nadu were still 126 runs in arrears.
Five-wicket hauls from Ashok Dinda and debutant Amit Kuila bowled Bengal to a 133-run first-innings lead against Punjab in Bilaspur. Punjab, 168 for 4 overnight, were bowled out for 271. Uday Kaul top-scored for them with 77 off 149 balls. He, however, lacked substantial support from the other batsmen, with the second-highest score being 46 from No.10 Sandeep Sharma.
Captain Manoj Tiwary then built on Bengal’s lead with an unbeaten 61, which included seven fours and a six. Bengal finished the day at 182 for 5, with an overall lead of 315, Seamer Siddarth Kaul was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab, taking 3 for 30.
Opener Akhil Herwadkar’s patient 136 not out, which included 19 fours, led Mumbai‘s reply after Madhya Pradesh had racked up 445 in Raipur. Herwadkar watched his team slump to 56 for 3, before adding 67 for the fourth wicket with Suryakumar Yadav. He then found a stronger ally in captain Aditya Tare with whom he ground 155 in 55.5 overs. The fifth-wicket stand ended when Tare was trapped in front by seamer Ishwar Pandey. Herwadkar had Tushar Deshpande for company when Mumbai closed the day at 290 for 5.
Priyank Panchal‘s century and a string of half-centuries from the middle order helped Gujarat set Railways an improbable target of 501 in Lahli. Seamer Rush Kalaria then amplified Gujarat’s advantage by leaving Railways at 91 for 4 in their chase. Arindam Ghosh and wicketkeeper-batsman Mahesh Rawat then put on an unbroken 80-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take Railways to 171 for 4 at stumps. Kalaria took two wickets while Karan Patel and Ishwar Chaudhary chipped in with one each.
Having started the third day at 295 for 3, Gujarat piled on 437 for 7 before declaring their second innings. Bharghav Merai, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Juneja, Chirag Ghandhi all contributed to Gujarat’s surge by making fifties.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo