Ranji round 3, day 3 - Baroda beat Odisha to secure third straight win

TN have been made to follow-on by Chhattisgarh

Mayank Agarwal's century gives Karnataka a massive 144-run lead. They'll probably declare overnight to try and bowl Bihar out for their first outright of the season

Jalaj Saxena and Salman Nizar hit half-centuries to rescue Kerala from 83 for 6. They end on 267 for 7 after 102 overs, with Bengal's Ishan Porel picking a five-for.

Thank you for your company. I'll be back early on Tuesday as we build up to the final day's action from round three. We'll closely look at the table, the pools, the teams that have pulled away, teams that have catching up to do and a lot more.

In five previous seasons, Nagaland have NEVER beaten a team outside of those from the north east. Could that change tomorrow?

It's a tall order against Goa, but they've given themselves a solid base. Chasing 339, their openers D Nischal, the former Karnataka batter, and Sedezhalie Rupero put on 119. They lost Rupero, but have ended the day without any further damage, at 145 for 1, needing another 194.

A part of the reason why they're in this position is because they bowled Goa out for 179 and came within 32 runs of their score. The game seemed to have gotten away from them when Goa opened up a massive lead by making 306, but the openers have helped Nagaland storm back.

There's some quality in the batting to come. Rongsen Jonathan, the captain, has played for close to a decade. He plays club cricket in Bengaluru, has featured in the KPL previously, and has also played for the Railways. There's J Suchith, the former Karnataka allrounder, who moved to the side this year in search of more opportunities.

Nischal himself was starved of chances in Karnataka because the top order was packed with Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, R Samarth and Manish Pandey occupying the top four.

If they can help Nagaland pull this off, they'll be a part of history.

Sampath Bandarupalli, our stats expert, tells me they've won 11 games so far. Here's the break-up:

Mizoram (2), Arunachal (4), Sikkim (3) and Manipur (2)

Jammu & Kashmir's fast bowling trio of Aaquib Nabi, Umar Nazir and Yudhvir Singh help raze down Services for a bonus-point win

Saurashtra slump to second loss in three games to scrape the bottom of Group D. Railways top the group currently.

As mentioned below, Baroda have won their third straight game to top Group A

Baroda have become the early pace-setters this season. After vanquishing Mumbai and Services, Baroda have now thrashed Odisha by an innings to secure a bonus-point victory.

Having pocketed a 263-run lead, Baroda made Odisha follow-on. It took them just 34 overs to skittle Odisha a second time to secure victory by an innings and 98 runs.

Ninad Rathva, the left-arm spinning allrounder, picked up his third first-class five-for. He ended with 6 for 60 to cap off Baroda's dominating spin display. In the first innings, it was offspinner Mahesh Pithiya who picked up a five-for.

Pithiya's eerily similar action to R Ashwin's even had the Australian team employ him as a net bowler during their tour to India last year. He wasn't a regular then, but is a regular now. What a turnaround in fortunes for him.

Hyderabad have enforced the follow-on against Puducherry

Haryana have squeezed past MP for a first-innings lead

Tamil Nadu in a fight to save follow-on against Chhattisgarh

Rishi Dhawan’s century takes Himachal past Andhra’s 344

Rinku-Nitish hit half-centuries as UP build massive lead v Punjab

The grand, old warhorse of the Railways, Karn Sharma, has put his side within touching distance of a second win in three games that will, in all probability, take them atop the Group D standings.

Soon after lunch, Karn, who turned 37 just last week, has sent back Sheldon Jackson and Cheteshwar Pujara in the space of three deliveries, and has added another with the scalp of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. He has picked up eight wickets in the match so far.

At 100 for 7, Saurashtra's hopes of scaling 180 are fast fading.And the lower-order an in-form spinner to tackle on what, by many accounts, is a raging turner.

Karn played his only Test in Adelaide on the 2014-15 tour, and hasn't come anywhere near national selection since November 2014. However, he has found his calling car in the IPL, having been part of title-winning MI, SRH and CSK squads.

He was most-recently with RCB.

He also made a brief pitstop with Andhra in 2017-18, in search of more opportunities, but returned home to Railways post the pandemic and has been a key member of the squad since.

Saurashtra's hopes of securing their first win this season rests on this crucial fifth-wicket partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Sheldon Jackson.

Pujara was seemingly been held back to shore up their lower order; coming in at No. 6 with Saurashtra on 68 for 4 in pursuit of 180 against Railways at home in Rajkot. At lunch, they're 87 for 4 with Jackson unbeaten on 43. Saurashtra couln't have asked for a more experienced pair to bail them out.

Pujara is coming off a grinding 234 against Chhattisgarh in his previous game. He was out for just 2 in the first innings here, but has an opportunity to set that right and seal his team's first win this season.

After an away loss to Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra could only salvage one point from a drawn game against Chhattisgarh, where even the first innings wasn't decided. This game is of massive importance for them if they are to bounce back into contention.

Daya Sagar from Kotla: After getting a five-for yesterday, India’s new Test recruit Harshit Rana is now trying to rescue his team Delhi with the bat. He came in to bat at No. 8 with Delhi trailing Assam by 148 runs. He has now brought up his 2nd first class half in just 69 balls with four fours and two huge sixes. His partner Sumit Mathur (41) is also nearing his half century and the deficit is now down to just 59.

Yesterday, Harshit also opened up about his selection for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, influence from coach Gautam Gambhir and tips from senior pros Virat, Rohit and Bumrah.

As if losing the first-innings honours against Uttar Pradesh wasn't enough, Bengal have now seen their second game in Kalyani against Bihar - one they would've targetted full points - washed out without a ball bowled, due to a combination of rain and poor ground conditions.

Ahead of their third round fixture against Kerala, at Jadavpur University Grounds, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) wrote to the BCCI requesting for the match to be pushed back by two days due to a cyclone in the region. That request was rejected citing a crowded calendar and logistical challenges.

The first two days were completely washed out, and today, having won the toss, Bengal have reduced Kerala to 83 for 5 with pacer Ishan Porel taking his fifth first-class five-for. New import Baba Aparajith, is among his wickets, for a first-ball duck.

Porel's USP is accuracy and the ability to extract steep bounce even on docile surfaces because of his height. He's worked immensely on his consistency, while also adding a few yards of pace to his 135kph avatar. All good signs for Bengal.

In their season opener, Karnataka had to settle for one point against Madhya Pradesh. Only 215 of the 360 overs were possible with even the first innings honours left undecided at the Holkar Stadium due to a combination of a snoozy pitch, rain that led to poor ground conditions. At one point, ground staff employed coal and hair dryers in an effort to dry the outfield, but it didn't help despite there being bright sunshine.

Writing in The Hindu, N Sudarshan observed: "The bowlers’ run-up area at both ends were particularly in bad shape, and despite moderately clear skies and good sunshine through the day [Day 2], they remained soggy and slippery."

Having come home to rain, Karnataka would've hoped to get their campaign up and running against Kerala, but just 50 overs were possible as much of the game in Alur was washed out.

The KSCA prides itself on its infrastructure and the famous sub-air system at Chinnaswamy that drains water out in no time. Sadly, despite two days of sunshine, Alur, on the outskirts, couldn’t dry up, further underlining the need for the “big associations” to lead by example.

This is something Tamil Nadu did superbly, as Jaydev Unadkat would attest, to get Coimbatore ready for the fourth and final day of TN’s first-round clash against Saurashtra.

Now in their third round, Karnataka would've hoped for better luck in Patna. But nope. All of Day 2 at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, whose pathetic condition was highlighted in a detailed story by ESPNcricinfo's Syed Hussain, was washed out because the outfield just wouldn't dry. Again, coal and fire was used to try and dry wet patches, to no avail. When there was rain, the quality of covers were so poor that water seeped underneath.

Having bowled out Bihar for 216, Karnataka are now running out of time to try and push for a lead and an outright result to get their campaign back on track.