Mohammad, seamers put Assam on top

Sixteen wickets fell on the second day in Valsad, at the end of which Assam gained a significant foothold on a semi-final spot in the Ranji Trophy.

J Syed Mohammad scored 121 batting at No. 7 to put up a total of 323 following which seamers Krishna Das and Arup Das routed Punjab for 137. Assam's batsmen pushed their first-innings lead of 186 to 209, but had a lot of trouble doing so thanks to left-arm seamer Barinder Sran's 3 for 11. Besides Sran, Punjab had only one other performance of note: Mayank Sidhana, who struck nearly 60 % of their first-innings total - 80 off 131 balls with 10 fours - and remained unbeaten while eight of his team-mates crumbled for single digits.

Punjab had fallen to 13 for 4 in the fifth over as Arup (3 for 41) and Krishna (3 for 54) ran amok. Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Singh bagged a couple of ducks, leaving Sidhana and Uday Kaul to resurrect the innings. They put on 73 runs together before part-timer Pallavkumar Das broke through and the Punjab tail crumbled soon after.

Assam had began the day with two wickets standing in their first innings and Mohammed converted his overnight 50 into his second first-class hundred. With him in charge, the final two wickets hung on for over 21.3 overs and amassed 100 runs, a crucial development considering the Punjab collapse that followed.

Vidarbha 151 and 17 for 0 trail Saurashtra 375 (Jogiyani 130, Jackson 122, Yadav 5-81) by 207 runs
Scorecard

Saurashtra took firm control of their Ranji quarter-final against Vidarbha, as centuries from Sheldon Jackson and Sagar Jogiyani drove the team to an innings lead of 224 in Vizianagaram.

Saurashtra, who began the day at 70 for 1, were dealt two early blows, losing both Cheteshwar Pujara and Arpit Vasavada in the space of three overs. However, Jackson and Jogiyani led a counterattack, batting together for more than 50 overs to put up 206 runs. Jogiyani struck 17 fours and two sixes during his 130 - his eighth first-class ton, while Jackson's 122 off 175 featured 13 fours and six sixes. Their efforts lifted Saurashtra to 375. Umesh Yadav was the pick of Vidarbha's bowlers, taking 5 for 81, while Aditya Sarwate picked up 4 for 63.

Vidarbha were 17 for 0 in their second innings when stumps were called.

After having pitched in with 33 off 37 balls to push Mumbai past 400, Iqbal Abdulla dismantled the Jharkhand middle order with three wickets to cement his side's control in Mysore. Abdulla hit four fours and one six during his cameo as Mumbai added 113 to their overnight score. Left-arm spinner Shabaz Nadeem finished with figures of 5 for 140.

In response, Jharkhand's opening pair of Shiv Gautam and Anand Singh began steadily before the slide began. The 46-run partnership came to an end when pacer Shardul Thakur had Gautam caught by Suryakumar for 18. Anand followed soon after, for 39. Akhil Herwadkar, who struck his fourth first-class century on Wednesday backed it up with three scalps of his own. Abdulla, meanwhile, accounted for Ishank Jaggi (14), Kumar Deobrat (15), and Rahul Shukla (8); debutant wicketkeeper Sufian Shaikh playing a part in two of those dismissals. Jharkhand crawled to 150 for 8 when stumps were drawn.