Tamil Nadu gain healthy lead over Punjab

An unbeaten century from left-hander S Sriram has secured Tamil Nadu a healthy first-innings lead over Punjab at the end of third day of the Elite Group encounter between the two sides at Mohali.

Sriram made 160 not out (237 balls, 19 fours) to ensure that his side gained a 101-run lead over Punjab with three first-innings wickets in hand going into the final day. Skipper S Suresh (32), S Ramesh (39), S Sharath (35) and MR Shrinivas (30*) were the others to get among the runs for the visitors. For Punjab, Vineet Sharma claimed four wickets.

At Delhi, a Gautam Gambhir ton saw the hosts post a strong reply after Hyderabad declared their first innings at 297/9. Delhi were 260/3 when stumps were drawn at the end of the third day's play.

In the morning, Hyderabad, who resumed at 180/5, were well served by overnight not out batsman D Vinay Kumar, who went on to make 96. With Arjun Yadav (35) and I Khaleel (30) chipping in with useful hands, the visitors managed to post a respectable first-innings total. Amit Bhandari, who claimed four wickets, was the most successful bowler for the hosts.

When Delhi replied, opener Gambhir played masterfully to make an unbeaten 140 (196 balls, 22 fours). The 19-year-old Salil Oberoi, who made 64, was the other home team batsman to make an impression on the day.

Assam, meanwhile, are pushing for an outright win against Uttar Pradesh in another Elite Group encounter being played at Guwahati. The hosts, replying to Uttar Pradesh's first-innings total of 211, made a massive 469/9 before declaring. Kiran Powar (175, 350 balls, 24 fours) and Manoj Joglekar (80, 150 balls, five fours) were the men who were mainly responsible for guiding their team into such a strong position. Fighting to avoid an outright defeat, Uttar Pradesh were 28/0 in their second essay when play ended on the penultimate day.

In another match at Kolkata, Andhra needed 80 runs with all second-innings wickets in hand to complete a win over hosts Bengal.

In the morning, the visitors, who resumed their first innings at 275/8, were bowled out for 319, having secured a lead of 130. When Bengal batted for the second time, Devang Gandhi (102, 143 balls, 13 fours) and Deep Dasgupta (66, 154 balls, seven fours) laid a solid platform. But off-spinner Hemal Watekar (4-73) and D Kalyan Krishna (3-41) precitipated a collapse that saw the hosts lose eight wickets for the addition of just 52 runs. Needing just 108 to complete a second sucessive win, Andhra were 20/0 when stumps were drawn on the penultimate day.

At Jaipur, Mumbai earned a 12-run first-innings lead over Rajasthan. By the end of the penultimate day's play, they had managed to extend it to 107 by reaching 95/1 in their second essay. Mumbai medium-pacer, Robin Morris was the man responsible for gaining his side the all-important first-innings lead. He claimed 6-39 in 19 overs to almost single-handedly wreck the hosts' hopes of gaining a point out of the match. Opener Vinayak Mane (43) was the only wicket to fall when Mumbai batted a second time.

In the only other Elite Group match, Railways reached 139/1 in 35 overs in their first innings against Himachal Pradesh. Amit Pagnis (59*) and Tejinder Pal Singh (60*) were the two not out batsmen. Rain had earlier prevented pplay on the first two days and most of the third day.