Mumbai were in sight of their first win this season after reducing Odisha to 93 for 4 in pursuit of 413 in Bhubaneswar. Seamer Akash Parkar dismissed Subhransu Senapati and Deepak Behera off successive deliveries, but captain Govinda Poddar (48*) remained firm at stumps.
In the morning, Mumbai were in trouble as they slumped to 84 for 6 in their second innings, losing nightwatchman Dhawal Kulkarni, vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav and captain Aditya Tare in the space of five overs. However, Siddhesh Lad played the role of the ‘crisis man’ to perfection with his fifth first-class century to bail them out.
During the course of his 153-ball effort, he notched up partnerships of 57 and 76 with Abhishek Nayar and Parkar respectively. Lad was the ninth batsman to be dismissed, and Mumbai declared their innings soon after on 268 for 9. Seamer Suryakant Pradhan finished with three wickets to add to his two in the first innings.
Smit Patel‘s sixth first-class hundred led Tripura’s strong response as they finished the day on 327 for 4 against Baroda in Vadodara. Smit remained unbeaten on 123 at stumps, but Tripura still trail Baroda’s first-innings total by 194.
Resuming on 63 for 1, Tripura lost opener Bishal Ghosh in the sixth over of the day to seamer Sagar Mangalorkar, who also had Udiyan Bose caught and bowled soon after. At 94 for 3, Tripura were in trouble, but Smit found an ally in the experienced Yashpal Singh, who made 90 in a stand worth 181. It wasn’t until tea that the partnership was broken when Vishnu Solanki, Baroda’s centurion in the first innings, removed Yashpal. But, Smit and Rajat Dey (20*) ensured with an unbroken 52-run partnership that Tripura didn’t go off track and remained on course to secure the first-innings lead.
Seamer Bandaru Ayyappa’s three-wicket burst reduced Madhya Pradesh to 67 for 5 after Andhra had secured a crucial first-innings lead of 55 runs in Vizianagaram. Ayyappa first struck in the seventh over to trap opener Aditya Shrivastava in front and then cleaned up Shubham Sharma two overs later. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt joined in the act, as he had Rajat Patidar caught behind to leave Madhya Pradesh tottering on 16 for 3.
Ayyappa then returned to dismiss Harpreet Singh Bhatia, his third wicket in his third successive over. Captain Devendra Bundela and Ankit Sharma riefly restored calm, but Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari had Ankit lbw off what was the last ball of the day.
Resuming their first innings on 177 for 5, Andhra surged ahead thanks to a 143-run partnership between Ashwin Hebbar (77) Ravi Teja (58). Legspinner Mihir Hirwani, however, dismissed Sumanth to break the partnership, and despite an unbeaten 36-ball 32 from Ayyappa, ran through the lower order. Hirwani, who picked up 5 for 22 in the previous game, finished with five wickets again.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo