All the talking points from the third day of the penultimate round of the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy
© Getty Images
Gill continues to knock on the door
Punjab are refusing to give up, and for that they have their young core group to thank for a special effort. They trounced Kerala by 10 wickets to secure seven full points to jump to third in Group B. With top five from Groups A&B qualifying, Punjab will need to also win their remaining match, while also keeping an eye on how the other games pan out.
Siddarth Kaul’s second five-wicket haul this season skittled Kerala for 121 on the first day. Punjab rode on half-centuries from Jiwanjot Singh and Mandeep Singh to 96-run lead. Kerala fought back to nudge ahead by 131 courtesy Mohammad Azharudeen’s century, but it needed a sterling opening stand between Jiwanjot and Shubman Gill, who made a sparkling 69 not out, to take them to a bonus-point win.
Gill’s first-class tally now stands at 990 runs in eight matches and 14 innings, with three hundreds and six fifties. Gill fell 10 short of completing 1000 first-class runs in under nine matches, a feat achieved by no other Indian. Overall, Gill has at least one half-century in each of his eight outings in first-class cricket.
Mumbai knocked out
Winless Mumbai won’t have a shot at a 43rd title. The winners of the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy were handed their third-largest innings defeat in first-class cricket by Vidarbha in Nagpur.
Needing to win each of their remaining games to stay in contention, Mumbai saw their one-time strongman Wasim Jaffer smash 178 in Vidarbha’s 511 all out. Then with the bat, Mumbai lasted a combined 113.3 overs in both innings. The second innings, after being made to follow-on, lasted a mere 34.4 overs, in which they were shot out for 113, with Adtiya Sarvate, the left-arm spinner, picking six wickets.
Vidarbha now lead the Groups A&B points table with three wins in seven matches. Mumbai are winless this season, and have just 11 points in seven games.
Krunal Pandya, Baroda’s one-man army
Baroda have their first win of the season and they have Krunal Pandya to thank. An all-round show for the ages sent Railways hurtling to their second successive defeat this season, inside three days in New Delhi.
Walking in at 36 for 3 on the first morning, Krunal counter-attacked to smash 160 in Baroda’s 313. Then he picked 4 for 40 with the ball to skittle Railways for 200. Armed with a 113-run lead, he then hit 104 in the second innings. This set Railways a daunting 271, but they could manage only 106.
Krunal’s fourth-innings efforts were milder in comparison – 6-1-19-2 – but he’d left his imprint on the win. The other left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt walked away with a five-for too.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo