Hosts Haryana were on the verge of lifting the Ranji Trophy Plate Division title after reducing Services to 76 for three in their second innings in Gurgaon on Saturday.

Chasing a stiff target of 464 runs, Services lost their top three batsmen to leg spinner Amit Mishra who ended the penultimate day with impressive figures of 3 for 15.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 136 for 2, Haryana declared their innings at 312 for eight which revolved around middle-order batsman Sunny Singh's fine century.

Singh, who resumed batting on 27, resisted the Services attack for 243 balls during his patient knock of 118 which lasted nearly six hours.

His was the eighth wicket to fall which prompted the declaration. But by the time Sudhakar Ghag had him caught by Madhusudhan Reddy, Sunny Singh had already put Haryana in complete command by hitting 17 fours and one six.

None of the other Haryana batsmen managed to score a half-century but Singh made valuable stands with his partners among whom Joginder Sharma made 38 and wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra managed 21.

For Services, it was another day of agony despite the fact that they had already made it to elite league next season along with Haryana.

Ghag (3/74), Sharma (3/97) and Mohanty (2/61) had to toil hard for success as the match slowly slipped away from their hands.

Brief scores:

Haryana first innings: 342 (C Sharma 95, S Singh 52, B Bist 50, A Sharma 4-118)

Services first innings: 191 (A Mohanty 40*, J Sharma 5-67, S Rana 3-42)

Haryana second innings: 312-8 dec (S Singh 118, C Sharma 45, A Sharma 3-97, S Ghag 3-74)

Services second innings: 76-3 (N Singh 26, A Mishra 3-15) Target: 464