Ranji round 3, day 4: Patidar hits 68-ball ton; Karnataka, Delhi win

Here's the points table for Elite Groups.

Here's the points table for Plate Group.

Thanks for your company, as always. Look forward to more. Diwali wishes to those celebrating. Will see you November 6 for round four.

Vidarbha top Group B after beating Uttarakhand. After fighting tooth and nail for first-innings honours, Uttarakhand folded for 71 in their second innings to lose by 266 runs. Six wickets for Harsh Dubey as Vidarbha have now won three in three.

TN have secured a draw after being made to follow-on by Chhattisgarh, while Chandigarh fought the weather and bad light to beat Jharkhand with a bonus point to top Group D.

After huffing and puffing in their second innings, Ajinkya Rahane steered Mumbai out of the wobble as they take first-innings honours against Tripura. Hyderabad, elsewhere, find themselves in the mid-table of Group B after beating Puducherry. Remember they were in the Plate Division last year?

And finally, UP have taken the first innings honours after Punjab bat out the final day in Mullanpur.

Agni Chopra stars as Mizoram beat Manipur. They'll remain third in the six-team table for now.

Nagaland's hopes of pulling off a historic first win against a team outside those from the north east were dashed by Darshan Misal as Goa pull off a heist. From 141 for 1, Nagaland stumbled to 255 all out to lose by 84 runs

Karnataka were on the edge. When Sakibul Gani & Babul Kumar put together a 130-run stand for the third wicket, you wondered if they'd have enough time to not just dismiss Bihar, but also chase down whatever target they'd be set. Turns out they managed both.

And for that, massive credit to legspinning allrounder Shreyas Gopal.

At 31, he's been in the system for over a decade. In a way, this big performance is the kind of tonic he needed to reinvigorate his career. Last year, he moved to Kerala, but returned to his home state this year, in a bid to start afresh.

And just as Karnataka were beginning to feel frustrated, Mayank Agarwal threw the ball to him for the last roll of the dice. He ran through the lower order, picking up 4 for 70 to set up a paltry 69-run target, which Karnataka razed down.

They'd have hoped for a bonus point, but that wasn't to be. They'd still take the win, their first this season, to go with two one-pointers. Their campaign was looking like it'd hit a dead end, but not anymore.

Bring on Bengal in Bengaluru next week.

For a second game running, Bengal have been hampered by poor weather.

After their 2nd round fixture against Bihar was washed out without a ball bowled, they've now been forced to settle for one point against Kerala after a snoozefest.

The only pocket of excitement came very early on Monday, the third day when play finally began at Jadavpur, when Ishan Porel ran through the Kerala top order to pick five wickets, before Jalaj Saxena, the talismanic allrounder, led Kerala's fightback.

Kerala declared early this morning on 356 for 9, in the hope of trying to bowl Bengal out for three first-innings points, but bad light made it tougher for them after openers Sudip Chatterjee and Shuvam Dey hit half-centuries.

Ahead of the IPL retention, Rajat Patidar has given RCB more reasons to retain him. Not that it's in doubt.

Last week, he narrowly missed out on a century against Punjab, but has made up for it against Haryana.

Having fallen behind by 132 in the first innings, Madhya Pradesh had a tricky final day to tackle. But Patidar has shredded any sign of nerves by hitting a 68-ball 100, his 13th in first-class cricket. Along the way, Madhya Pradesh have also wiped out the deficit, although they're not going to have enough time to force a result.

The knock is significant given Patidar finds himself in the cold. Having made his Test debut earlier this year, he missed out in each of his three games against England. He didn't have a great time at the Duleep Trophy either, and subsequently missed out on a spot in the India A squad for Australia.

This knock is a timely reminder that he's alive and kicking.

Elsewhere, Delhi have got their season’s first win, that too with a bonus point against Assam at Kotla. India’s new Test recruit Harshit Rana became star for them as he bagged a fifer and a fifty in the match.

If rain, ground conditions, dung cakes, hair dryers, coal and bad light frustrated Karnataka at various points during their third round fixture against Bihar, on Tuesday it was Sakibul Gani who did the honours.

Having declared overnight with a lead of 144, Karnataka's hopes of victory received a massive fillip when they reduced Bihar to 6 for 2. Then, Gani, who in 2022 etched himself into the record books with a triple century on first-class debut, got down to business with the experienced Babul Kumar.

The pair put on 130 for the third wicket, after which Gani went to bring up his fifth first-class century. Bihar have wiped out the deficit and still have five wickets in hand as we approach tea. Karnataka are running out of time because we've seen how light dips sharply after 4pm. So unless they get a clutch of wickets quickly, they're likely to end round three with a third straight draw that puts their qualification hopes in serious jeopardy.

Rain has thwarted Chandigarh's charge towards victory shortly after lunch. Jharkhand effectively 35 for 8 in Jamshedpur.

Delhi need 59 to beat Assam for first win. Can they secure it with a bonus point?

Half-centuries from N Jagadeesan and Vijay Shankar help TN resist Chhattisgarh after they've been made to follow-on in Coimbatore. TN are effectively fighting for one point that will keep them in the top half of the group.

Railways beat Saurashtra in a three-day finish; they defended 180 for their second win.

Maharashtra have beaten - as you'd expect them to - Meghalaya by 10 wickets to secure a bonus-point win in Aurangabad. From second-last in Group A, they now lift themselves into the mid-table.

Mukesh Choudhary, the left-arm seamer who made a name for himself at Chennai Super Kings two years ago, is the star of the show. He finishes with 10 wickets in the match.

Choudhary has battled a number of injuries, most-notably a stress fracture on his back that ruled him out of cricket all of last year. This season, he managed just one IPL game, but had been under CSK's care all along.

This season is a sort of a comeback for him. After finishing with 1 for 103 against J&K, he was left out of the Mumbai game. Here he is now, having made a massive impact in Maharashtra's first win, even though he'll be the first to admit there will be tougher challenges along the way.

Mumbai are in trouble against Tripura, even though there is no imminent threat of defeat just yet. Having bowled Tripura out for 302 for. 148-run lead, Mumbai are tottering at 54 for 5 early on the fourth day. Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, is batting alongside Siddesh Lad in trying to swell the lead that now stands at 202.

Having begun with a defeat to Baroda, Mumbai bounced back to beat Maharashtra. It looked like they would blow Tripura away in the third round, but they've been met with staunch resistance from their two Punjab imports. Jiwanjot Singh, the opener, made 118 and Mandeep Singh, the captain, struck a solid 62 to eat into the deficit.

Despite that massive lead, they had two nightwatchers in Mohit Awasthi and Royston Dias at the crease in the last 30 minutes of play on Day 3. It's a move that should be spoken about, irrespective of how the rest of this game pans out.

At Kotla, Delhi have come back sensationally from nowhere.

First they conceded 330 against Assam.
Then they were reduced to 182 for 6.
Enter Harshit Rana.

The fast bowler, picked last week in India's Test squad for Australia, showed his all-round chops by hitting 59 to go with his five-for. Harshit's was largely a support role to Sumit Chauhan who hit 112, his maiden first-class century.

Siddhant Sharma then made 89 from No. 9 as Delhi ended with 454, a lead of 124.

That lead has now proven to be match-defining as Assam have been reduced to 58 for 6 in the second innings. Harshit has added two more wickets into his bag to take his match tally to seven wickets.