Round 3, Day 2 blog - Saurashtra fight back after conceding lead; Chhattisgarh, Mumbai, UP soar

- Mumbai vs Tripura. After racking up 450 thanks to contributions from the lower-order batters, Himanshu Singh trapped Tripura opener Bikramkumar Das early. Himanshu had earlier scored an important 59 coming in at No. 8 while Shardul Thakur smashed 62 off 52 and Shams Mulani 71. At stumps, Tripura were 60 for 1, trailing Mumbai by 390 runs.

- In Visakhapatnam, Andhra were bowled out for 344 with Divesh Sharma picking a five-wicket haul and Rishi Dhawan grabbing three. Ankit Kalsi then scored 53 while Akash Vasisht (52*) and Dhawan (38*) closed out the day with HP still trailing Andhra by 146 runs.

- In Coimbatore, it was Chhattisgarh on the charge against Tamil Nadu as their piled on 500 in 169.1 overs, with Aayush Pandey getting a century and then Anuj Tiwary, Sanjeet Desai, Eknath Kerkar and Ajay Mandal all striking half-centuries. At close, TN had lost their opener Suresh Lokeshwar for 7 and were 23 for 1 still trailing Chhattisgarh by 477 runs.

- Daya Sagar sends the Delhi vs Assam update from the venue: No one would have thought that Delhi would be on the backfoot in this match against Assam. But this is happening. After putting 330 runs on board with the help of Sumit Ghadigaonkar's century, Assam have dismissed six Delhi batters with the score on 214. Delhi are still 182 runs behind and Harshit Rana is their only hope who is not out on 15. Asaam’s spinner Swarupam Purkayastha and Rahul Singh took three and two wickets respectively.

- Meanwhile in Rajkot, there is a fascinating tussle going between Saurashtra and Railways. It seemed that Railways had the upper hand when they gained a first-innings lead of 38 runs courtesy of a Karn Sharma four-for. But Saurashtra have fought back. Yuvrajsinh Dodiya and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja picked three wickets apiece to have Railways struggling at 122 for 7 at the end of day two with the lead just 160. Karn and Akash Pandey will have a fair bit to do with the bat on day three.

- In Mullanpur, Uttar Pradesh gained a firm hold on proceedings with Madhav Kaushik's unbeaten 128 and Nitish Rana's 66 helping them take a big lead. At the end of the third day, UP were on 293 for 3 ahead by 83 runs with Rinku unbeaten on 46 and Kaushik alongside him.

- Hyderabad have piled on 536 for 8 declared in their first innings against Puducherry riding on a big 173 from Tanmay Agarwal and fifties from Abhirath Reddy, Rohit Rayudu, Kodimela Himateja and Tanay Thyagarajan. In reply, Puducherry were two down at stumps, still trailing by 512 runs.

- Baroda have taken a strong 161-run lead against Odisha with four wickets still in place while Rajasthan are in trouble at 180 for 5 after Gujarat were bowled out for 335 in their first innings.

- In Kolkata, after play started after close to a day and a half being wiped out, Kerala found themselves in early trouble against Bengal slipping to 51 for 4 after 15.1 overs with Ishan Porel picking three wickets.

Here's Rajan with an update from Jamshedpur: "Due to bad light, the match between Jharkhand and Chandigarh has been halted, and there is little hope of it resuming. After restricting Jharkhand to just 202 runs, Chandigarh has made a steady start and reached 34 runs without losing a wicket. Now, they have a good opportunity to take a first-innings lead and earn more points." Stumps have officially been called.

They've beaten Services in well under two days in Srinagar. What a terrific all-round show this has been from the local lads. After taking a hefty lead, the bowlers once again came to the party. Umar Nazir picked 6 for 53 while Yudhvir Singh finished with 3 for 35 to complete a match haul of 8 for 52 as Services were bowled out for 132 in their second innings in just 32 overs to go down by an innings and 25 runs. After two draws, J&K will very much welcome a win, and that too a big one.

It's been a quite stunning show from Madhav Kaushik, who is playing his 18th first-class match and the first of this Ranji season. He has been steady, shown intent and made sure to take his side into the lead. He's hit 16 fours so far in his century - the second of his career. He got good support from Nitish Rana and now Rinku Singh - who was dropped on 0. Kaushik had a huge let-off when on 117, he had to dive full-length to make it to his crease. It came down to frames in the end, with the third umpire taking an age before finally concluding that Kaushik had juuuuust made it back. Rinku looks as busy as ever, and UP are piling on the runs.

Daya has an update from Delhi: "During the second session of the second day of the ongoing Ranji match between Delhi and Assam, opener Sanat Sangwan, along with his captain Himmat Singh, took the innings forward. It did not seem that both would get out in this session. While Sangwan was a little more cautious and was hitting only on the weak balls, Himmat showed a little more intent and completed his half-century with the help of eight fours in 76 balls. Just before the tea, Sangwan was out LBW to off-spinner Swarupam Purkayastha. Like Dhul, he too got out on 47 and missed his half-century. Delhi are on 148/3 and still 182 runs behind the score of Assam."

Looks like the weather has cleared up and we could see some play in Kolkata after all. Here's Rajan with an update. "It appears that the match between Bengal and Kerala is about to start shortly. The umpires and match officials are near the field, which also appears to be dry. After losing crucial points against Bihar due to rain, the Bengal team will be eager to secure good points in this match."

He further adds that the toss will take place at 3pm with play set to start at 3.30pm.

Mumbai have meanwhile finally been bowled out for 450 against Tripura with Mandeep Singh picking the final wicket of Mohit Avasthi for 25. That is a terrific comeback from Mumbai who at one stage were 87 for 4 and 242 for 6. But the lower order has been superb in their fight.

The Mumbai lower order is in no mood to back down quickly. After losing Himanshu Singh and Shardul Thakur after lunch, the last wicket pair of Mohit Avasthi and Royston Dias has put on an excellent stand and they are slowly but steadily batting Tripura out of the game in Agartala.

Saurashtra have been bundled out for 196 and that means Railways have taken an important 38-run first innings lead. It didn’t seem that way when Railways were bowled out for 234 on the opening day but Karn Sharma with four wickets and Akash Pandey with three have put on a show in Rajkot. It was the top order collapse which hurt Saurashtra the most as they slipped from 73 for 1 to 83 for 5, which included the wickets of Sheldon Jackson, Cheteshwar Pujara and Chirag Jani. The lower order did try and put on a few runs but the Railways bowlers came through. Can the batters now build a substantial lead?

The pair of Eknath Kerkar and Ajay Mandal has been steady after lunch and has taken Chhatisgarh past the 400 mark as Tamil Nadu continue searching for the wickets. They got three in the opening session, but since then it has been all Chhatisgarh in Coimbatore. Chhatisgarh have taken their time in getting past 400, going at a shade under three an over, but they will want to bat once, bat big and want to to bat TN out of the contest. The weather in Coimbatore has been bright and sunny, so we should not see any major interruptions.

Daya Sagar enjoying a sumptuous lunch has another update. "Yash Dhull has given Delhi a solid start after their opener Gagan Vats fell for a first-ball duck against Assam. Dhull has raced to 43 off 41 balls with eight fours including some beautiful cover drives and continued his excellent form. He made a century in the last match against Tamil Nadu, playing after having a minor heart surgery. Delhi are 62 for 1 at lunch after 10 overs, still trailing Assam by 268 runs. Dhull has Sanat Sangwan (19) for company."

It is lunch in most places. Here’s a quick recap of how the morning session panned out in a few games.

Tamil Nadu have managed to prise out three wickets in the morning session against Chhatisgarh with Ajith Ram striking twice. Tiwary and Sanjeet Desai both fell in their 80s and TN will hope for a quick burst post lunch as well. It was a terrific morning session for Mumbai who lost just the wicket of Shams Mulani and have moved to 354 for 7 at lunch.

Andhra were bowled out for 343 while Himachal Pradesh are 44 for 2 with KV Sasikanth nipping out both openers. Jharkhand are three down in Jamshedpur against Chandigarh with the overcast conditions favouring the fast bowlers. Baroda are close to taking a first-innings lead against Odisha while Maharashtra are four down against Meghalaya who were bowled out for 276 in the first innings. Uttar Pradesh have also put their best foot forward against Punjab and have brought the deficit to under 100 with only two down.

There has been no play possible in Patna with Syed informing that it is quite overcast and the outfield is very wet. The Bengal-Kerala game is yet to begin in Kolkata.

Daya Sagar is in Delhi and has a close eye on the Delhi-Assam game. "Fast bowler Harshit Rana celebrated his Test selection for the Australia series by getting a five-wicket haul against Assam. On day one, he had bagged four wickets getting sufficient movement off the deck and on Sunday he took the last Assam wicket to fall and completed his second first-class five-wicket haul. He bowled Assam No. 10 Mrinmoy Dutta with an in-swinging delivery. Earlier, yesterday’s centurion Sumit Ghadigaonkar completed his maiden 150 before falling for 162. He went for an upper-cut on a short and wide Sumit Chauhan delivery but couldn’t connect it well and Siddhant Sharma made no mistake at deep third. Assam all out on 330. Now all eyes on Delhi’s batters."

Rajan Raj, who has been manning the coverage in Bengal and Jharkhand and is currently in Jamshedpur chimes in with an update on the Bengal-Kerala game in Kolkata. "The match between Bengal and Kerala has still not commenced, as the field remains too wet to play. This marks the second consecutive day of delay, despite there being no rain since yesterday. However, there was persistent and heavy rainfall in the two days leading up to the match. The next inspection is scheduled for 12pm."

Jammu and Kashmir have been bowled out for 228 on the morning of the second but they have managed a sizeable 157-run lead having skittled Services for 71 on the first day in Srinagar. Varun Choudhary picked five wickets for Services but they have a mountain to climb in the second innings. Auqib Nabi who picked five wickets in the first dig is at it again as he removes the Services opener Nitin Tanwar early.

Gujarat meanwhile have been bowled out for 335 on the second day against Rajasthan. Jaymeet Patel took them past 330 on the second morning and was the last wicket to fall for 61. Arafat Khan picked four wickets while Kukna Ajay Singh took three wickets.

There was incessant rain in Patna overnight, which continued till morning. The start of play between Bihar and Karnataka has been delayed as a result on day two. It looks increasingly tough for any play happening in the first session. The Jharkhand-Chandigarh clash in Jamshedpur has meanwhile started on time after only 14 balls were possible on the first day. And Jharkhand have found themselves in early trouble. Rohit Dhanda is all over the Jharkhand batters like a rash getting the ball to hoop around big and beating the outside edge at every given interval. He first nipped out Nazim for 7 before getting rid of Aditya Singh for a duck. Dhanda has bowled three overs so far and is yet to concede a run.

Shams Mulani has made it a habit to get his teams out of trouble in recent times, not just with the ball, but with the bat as well. And he is at it again with another important half-century for Mumbai. It's been a good morning for Mumbai who have moved closer to 300 with the overnight pair of Mulani and Himanshu Singh still intact. Mulani has reached his half-century and his stand with Himanshu is nearing fifty.