Nabi puts J&K in sight of maiden final despite Shami eight-for

A total of 17 wickets fell on day three of the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir in Kalyani. All of them went to the quicks, with Mohammed Shami and Auqib Nabi starring for their sides. By stumps, though, J&K were only 83 runs away from making their first ever Ranji final.

Nabi bagged 4 for 36 in the second innings to skittle Bengal out for 99, thus adding to his haul of 5 for 87 in the first. That left J&K only 126 to chase after Bengal went 26 ahead in the first innings courtesy of a career-best first-class haul of 8 for 90 from Shami.

J&K were 198 for 5 in their first innings overnight, and Shami got all the remaining wickets for Bengal. But before his first eight-for, Nabi and Yudhvir Singh frustrated Bengal with the bat. After J&K were reduced to 231 for 8, they smashed 64 runs in quick time to chip away at Bengal's first-innings total of 328.

J&K were eventually bowled out for 302, with Nabi scoring 42. He continued to have a great time in the match when he struck twice to reduce Bengal to 19 for 4 in the second innings. Shahbaz Ahmed briefly fought back with an attacking 24, but Nabi and Sunil Kumar, who also got four, never allowed Bengal to come back in the game.

J&K's chase, though, had its share of hiccups as well. Akash Deep left them at 12 for 2 after dismissing both openers early to give Bengal hope. But Shubham Pundir (23*) and the promoted Vanshaj Sharma (9*) took J&K to 43 for 2 at stumps on day three.

Karnataka continued batting against Uttarakhand for the third successive day in Lucknow, before being bowled out 736 - their second-highest first-class total. In reply, Uttarakhand ended day three on 149 for 5, still a mammoth 587 runs behind.

Karnataka started the day on 689 for 6, with R Smaran on 121. But he could add only another 14 to his score, before being the first wicket to fall on the third morning. He skipped down the pitch to left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra, and was stumped. Mishra added the wicket of Vijaykumar Vyshak for a duck in his next over, and then got his third when he bowled Shikhar Shetty for 12.

But by then, Vidyadhar Patil, who had a seventh-wicket stand of 109 with Smaran, had got to his maiden first-class fifty. He was the last man out for 54 as Aditya Rawat bagged his fourth wicket to have Patil caught behind.

Patil then carried forward that momentum when he came out to bowl. He dismissed both Uttarakhand openers - Prashant Chopra was lbw, while Bhupen Lalwani was caught behind - before Vyshak cleaned Avneesh Sudha up with a beauty.

A number of Uttarakhand batters got starts, but only Lakshya Raichandani went on to make a substantial score. He finished unbeaten on 52 at stumps, with the highest partnership of Uttarakhand's innings being 43 for the fifth wicket between Raichandani and J Suchith.