New Delhi: The fourth day of the Ranji Trophy cricket quarterfinals is set to be exciting since a result is very much on the card in three matches while the Railways-Bengal fixture may get to the fifth and final day.
At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Maharashtra were 28 for one in the second innings and needed another 224 runs to beat Mumbai on the third day Friday.
In Vadodara's Moti Bagh Stadium, skipper Parvez Rasool, who struck a century Thursday, again came to Jammu and Kashmir's rescue as he picked up five for 58 with his leg-spin that saw Punjab being bowled out for 296 in the second innings. At stumps Friday, Jammu and Kashmir were 38/1 and needed another 286 runs to beat Punjab.
In Bangalore, Karnataka, despite a poor effort in their second innings, still appeared well placed to beat Uttar Pradesh who were still 278 adrift of the target with nine wickets in hand at stumps on the third day Friday.
The only game that looked like lasting the full five days was the match between Railways and hosts Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Bengal finished the day at 131 for four in the second innings and led Railways by 134 runs.
Meanwhile in Bangalore, after Uttar Pradesh declared their first innings at the overnight score of 221 for nine, and thus conceding a lead of 128 runs, Karnataka were bundled out for 204 with left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza claiming six for 64.
The hosts, tottering at 15 for three, were rescued by opener Lokesh Rahul (92 not out, 188b, 13x4) as they eventually set a target of 333 with over two days of play still left in the game.
Uttar Pradesh began their chase on a solid note with openers Tanmay Srivastava and Mukul Dagar putting on 53 runs. However, Srivastava fell to leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal with about 10 minutes of play left, edging a catch to Robin Uthappa in the slips as the visitors ended the day on 55 for one.
Brief scores:
At Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore: Karnataka 349 all out (Robin Uthappa 100, Karun Nair 100; Amit Mishra 6/106) and 204 (Lokesh Rahul 92, Chidambaram Gautam 36; Murtaza Ali 6/64) vs Uttar Pradesh 221/9 decl and 53/1.
At the Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara: Punjab 304 all out in first innings (Harbhajan Singh 92, Sandeep Sharma 52; Ram Dayal 3/59, Umar Nazir Mir 4/66) and 296 (Mandeep Singh 101, Gurkeerat Singh 66, Yuvraj Singh 40; Parvez Rasool 5-58) vs. Jammu and Kashmir 277 all out in first innings (Parvez Rasool 103, Adil Rishi 65; Sandeep Sharma 4/46) and 38/1.
At the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai: Mumbai 402 in first innings (Suryakumar Yadav 120, Vinit Indulkar 82; Samad Fallah 4/103) and 129 in second innings vs. (Anupam Sanklecha 4-57) vs Maharashtra 280 in first innings (Ankit Bawne 84, Kedar Jadhav 51; Shardul Thakur 4/62) and 28/1.
At the Eden Gardens, Kolkata: Bengal 317 in first innings (Sudip Chatterjee 96, Abhimanyu Easwaran 65, Wriddhiman 87; Anureet Singh 4/88) and 131/4 in second innings (Laxmi Ratan Shukla 63 batting) vs. Railways 314 in first innings (Mahesh Rawat 119, Arindam Ghosh 97; Ashok Dinda 6/105).
