Dhurv hat-trick seals Gujarat win

Gujarat's bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv and debutant pacer Jasprit Bumrah, extended their dominance over Vidarbha batsmen to set up an innings win for the side.

Vidarbha's innings on the third day was a story of two collapses, both triggered off by Dhurv. In the second over of the day, overnight batsman Amol Ubarhande was dismissed by Bumrah, but Faiz Fazal and captain Shalabh Shrivastava raised hopes of a recovery with a 49-run stand for the third wicket. Fazal was eventually bowled by Dhurv for 77 off 197 balls, including twelve fours, with the score at 144 for 3 and for the next seven overs, Vidharbha scored just one run for the loss of Hemang Badani and Rashmi Parida.

A stubborn 69-run stand between Shrivastava and Ranjit Paradkar gave Vidarbha some hope of fighting back, but Dhurv sent their chances crashing by trapping Shrivastava lbw for 56. Vidarbha went on to lose their next four wickets for just four runs. Bumrah dismissed Sumit Ruikar while Dhurv claimed this season's first hat-trick, dismissing Shrikant Wagh, Umesh Yadav and Sandeep Singh in the 100th over, which meant Vidarbha's two innings featured as many as 10 ducks.

Dhurv finished with second-innings figures of 5 for 21 off 20.4 overs, while Bumrah capped off an impressive debut, taking a match tally of 7 for 89 which included four top-order wickets in the first innings and three crucial ones in the second innings.

Odisha 205 and 110 for 2 (Podder 52*, Behera 42) trail Punjab 560 for 6 decl (Mandeep 175, Kohli 144) by 245 runs
Scorecard

Punjab built on the centuries Taruwar Kohli and Mandeep Singh scored on the second day to take a 355-run lead against Odisha and took two wickets as the visitors batted again to save the match.

Kohli and Mandeep put on another 66 runs to their partnership, to take it to 282, which was broken by Alok Mangaraj who bowled Mandeep for 175. Wicketkeeper Uday Kaul couldn't survive for long as he was trapped lbw for 2 by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh. Odisha didn't have to wait too long for another wicket as they brought a 40-run stand between Kohli and No. 6 Mayank Sidhana to an end with Kohli's wicket for 144. Sidhana, Amitoze Singh and captain Harbhajan Singh made sure they weren't troubled much from there as Sidhana fell two short of his fifty, and Amitoze and Harbhajan were unbeaten on 56 and 49 respectively before declaring.

Odisha were given two quick blows by Sandeep Sharma who got rid of the openers for single-digit scores in the first seven overs. However, Niranjan Behera and Govind Podder averted any other damage by surviving the remaining 23.3 overs with a 97-run stand. They have eight wickets in hand but will have a tough task at hand on the last day against Sandeep and an in-form Harbhajan.

Mumbai 136 and 201 for 6 (Tendulkar 55*, Pawar 47, Mohit 2-65) trail Haryana 134 and 241
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The green pitch on a high water table have ensured that people who came only to watch Sachin Tendulkar have been treated to three action-packed days. The advantage has never stayed with one side for too long, and heading into the final day, Mumbai need 39 more for victory with Tendulkar, the lone specialist batsman, batting on 55.

Read the full report here.

No play was possible in the clash between Jharkhand and Delhi for the third day in a row due to a wet outfield.