Centuries from opener Jay Bista and Siddhesh Lad put Mumbai on top against Tripura at Wankhede Stadium. The hosts finished the day on 421 for 8, with both batsmen, who added 146 for the fifth wicket, making 123 each. By stumps, Mumbai were ahead of 226 with two wickets in hand. The 42-time champions are chasing an outright win to book a quarter-final berth.
Mumbai were in early trouble when Karsh Kothari was out first ball to Manisankar Murasingh (3-49). Bista and Lad then rebuilt Mumbai’s innings, hitting 33 fours and two sixes in their 181-ball partnership. Bista scored at a strike-rate of over 90 before falling to Murasingh in the 53rd over, Lad and Aditya Tare (67) then added a further 97 for the sixth wicket before the centurion perished for 123. Dhawal Kulkarni then smashed 50 off 60 balls, with five fours and two sixes, to end the day with Mumbai’s score past 400.
Openers Rajat Patidar‘s hundred, and half centuries from Devendra Bundela (62) and Puneet Datey (56), helped boost Madhya Pradesh’s chances of securing a knockouts berth. They were ahead by 214 at stumps against Orissa in Indore. By stumps, the Odisha openers had cut that lead down by 18, but the hosts were still ahead by 223 with two days to go. Odisha’sGovinda Poddar finished with career-best figures of 7 for 102.
Patidar’s 123 was his fifth first-class ton, and together with the captain Bundela added 114 for the second wicket. By then, MP had overhauled Odisha’s first-innings score of 147 and extended their lead. Deepak Behera then chipped in with two more wickets but the day with the ball belonged to offspinner Poddar, whose seven wickets in 27 overs ensured MP’s lead wasn’t bigger than what it was.
In Vadodara, Tamil Nadu‘s middle order rallied together with half-centuries from twin brothers B Indrajith (58) and B Aparajith (59*) to bring the visitors nearer to Baroda‘s first innings total of 309. Earlier in the day, it was Swapnil Singh‘s 144 that ensured Baroda could go past 300. At stumps, TN were at 226 for 5, still behind by 83.
Baroda started the day on 254 for 8, with Swapnil on 94. He batted well with the tail, adding a further 50 of Baroda’s 55 runs on the day, before being dismissed as Baroda’s last wicket by Yo Mahesh.
TN did not start their innings well, with openers Abhinav Mukund and Narayan Jagadeesan out for single digits. Kaushik Gandhi then added 34 after which Aparajith joined Indrajith in the middle. Together the brothers added 74 for the fourth wicket, before Indrajith was dismissed for 58. J Kousik then scored an unbeaten 37, and gave Aparajith company as the two finished unbeaten at the end of play. In a game TN simply have to win, their slow scoring could potentially cost them time yet.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo