File photo – Bipul Sharma’s 86 helped Himachal Pradesh take a 76-run first-innings lead against Chhattisgarh © ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Hanuma Vihari scored his fourth first-class double-hundred as Andhra took comprehensive strides towards an outright win against Tripura in Valsad. Vihari went from an overnight 144 to an unbeaten 233 (482b, 17×4, 4×6) as Andhra declared on 524 for 5, having established a first-innings lead of 353.
Bowling 47 overs, the left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh finished as Tripura’s most successful bowler, with figures of 4 for 166. With 42 overs left to bat out before stumps, Tripura lost three wickets, ending the day 165 for 3, still trailing by 188, with Yashpal Singh, their experienced import from Services, batting on 46.
Half-centuries from Bipul Sharma and Sumeet Verma gave Himachal Pradesh a 76-run first-innings lead in a closely contested match against Chhattisgarh in Kanpur. Both teams ended day three with a chance of winning outright, with Chhattisgarh 175 for 4 and 99 ahead, courtesy an unbeaten 69 (156b, 7×4, 1×6) from opener Abhimanyu Chauhan.
Himachal began the day trailing by 28 runs. Bipul scored 86 (179b, 4×4, 4×6) and Sumeet 68 (195b, 5×4, 2×6) as the pair stretched their overnight seventh-wicket stand of 60 to 130, before Himachal lost their last four wickets for 34 runs. Left-arm spinner Sumit Ruikar took two lower-order wickets to finish with figures of 7 for 112, his best in first-class cricket.
Seamers Vinod Kumar and Sandeep Warrier shared seven wickets between them to help Kerala take a 56-run first-innings lead against Goa at the Brabourne Stadium. Goa, six down and 173 behind at the start of the day, got as close as they did to Kerala’s first-innings total thanks to Shadab Jakati‘s 85 (162b, 13×4) from No. 8.
Kerala stretched their lead to 210 by stumps, with Rohan Prem following up his first-innings century with an unbeaten 60 (128b, 7×4), and Mohammed Azharuddeen scoring 56 not out (101b, 7×4). The two came together after a three-wicket burst from Saurabh Bandekar had reduced Kerala to 54 for 4, and added an unbroken 100 for the fifth wicket. During the course of his innings, Prem went past Sunil Oasis to become Kerala’s highest-ever run-getter.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo