A round-up of the third day's play of the Ranji Trophy Super League matches on Saturday.

Day II Report

Kaul century keeps Punjab still in the hunt

A sensible, unbeaten century from Uday Kaul kept Punjab in the hunt against Mumbai in their Group A match at the Brabourne Stadium.

The 21-year-old Himachal-born wicket keeper-batsman remained unconquered on 117 at stumps on day three of the four-day tie, his second successive ton after his knock of 106 against Hyderabad in the previous tie, as Punjab ended the day at 363 for eight.

Punjab, who trailed Mumbai by 234 runs in the first innings, are ahead overall by only 129 runs, but even to reach this situation they had to thank Kaul and his rollicking stand of 107 runs with the attacking Ankur Kakkar (58 with three sixes and five fours).

The fifth wicket duo repaired the damage as did in the first innings with Kaul, who has faced 174 balls in his 252-minute innings and struck 16 fours, and Kakkar joining forces at 169 for four and then taking the total to 276.

Kakkar, who used the slog sweep to good effect against Mumbai off spinner Ramesh Powar [Images], faced only 64 balls in making his second half century of the match, having top-scored with 71 in Punjab's first innings score of 202.

Kaul and Chandan Madan (32) put on 55 runs after Kakkar's fall before Mumbai struck three quick blows. At stumps, Kaul was accompanied at the crease by Sarabjit Ladda, who was yet to score.

Earlier, opener Sunny Sohal made a half century (51), after Punjab resumed at 18 for no loss, while Karan Goel, Ravi Inder Singh and skipper Pankaj Dharmani could not score big after settling down.

Punjab lost the wickets of Goel, Sohal and Ravi Inder before lunch, taken at 158 for three, and then Dharmani soon after the break before Kaul and Kakkar took the attack to the Mumbai bowlers in overcast conditions. 

Goel was bowled by Rajesh Verma who then sent back Sohal with a superb leg cutter which the opener edged to Mumbai stumper Vinayak Samant. Verma took these two wickets in a six-over spell for 16 runs.

Powar dismissed Ravi Inder and Dharmani on either side of lunch and Mumbai looked set to end the match today itself.

However, Kaul and Kakkar batted in a forthright manner to deny Mumbai another wicket till the stroke of tea when the latter was dismissed by Usman Malvi.

Both batsmen were given reprieves. Kakkar (23) spooned a drive but Rahil Shaikh missed a sitter at mid off and then wicket keeper Samant failed to collect a leg side edge off Kaul when the batsman was 57 in a team score of 262 for four.

The bowler to suffer was left arm spinner Ankit Chavan. 

Barring these two lapses, the two batsmen were well on top of the Mumbai bowling and Powar, in particular, with Kakkar carting him over the leg area twice and once straight for sixes. Their partnership came in only 99 minutes and off 136 balls.

Kakkar edged Samant trying to cut Malvi just before tea, but Madan and Kaul forged a half century stand worth 55 runs in 89 balls, the latter also reaching his century in style by reverse sweeping and cover driving Powar for two fours off successive balls.

Madan, Gagandeep Singh and Amanpreet Singh fell in quick succession before Kaul and Ladda stayed put.

Brief scores: Punjab 202 and 363 for eight (Sunny Sohal 51, Uday Kaul 117 not out, Ankur Kakkar 58) vs Mumbai 436 for 9 decl. 

Chopra strikes double hundred against Rajasthan 

Victory for Saurashtra in the final league encounter must have hurt Delhi [Images] dearly but the defending champions did not let that dampen spirits as they amassed 505 for five at stumps on the third day of their match against Rajasthan in Jaipur [Images].

Delhi and Saurashtra were locked in battle for the last spot in the next round. But following Saurashtra's 105-run win against Hyderabad, they now moved to 23 points and even if Delhi win here with a bonus, they would not be able to qualify for the knock-out phase.

Still, a double century by opener and skipper Akash Chopra (210) and hundred from Shikhar Dhawan (118) lighted up spirits as Delhi took a 210-run lead over Rajasthan in the first innings.

Resuming at overnight 117 for no loss, Chopra and Dhawan added 280 for the first wicket.

Dhawan's 118 came off 188 balls and included 17 fours.

Chopra played a superb innings as if to serve a reminder to BCCI for dropping him from the central contracts list.

His 324-ball 210 contained 20 hits to the fence and one six.

Virat Kohli then added 83 runs to pile on the agony for Rajasthan.

For the hosts, Mohammad Aslam took two wickets for 77 while Pankaj Singh, Vinod Chanwaria and Gajendra Singh chipped in with one each.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 295 vs Delhi 505 for five (Aakash Chopra 210, Shikhar Dhawan 118, Virat Kohli 83).

Parthiv hits double ton, Gujarat 382 for 8 against Orissa

Riding on a double ton by skipper Parthiv Patel [Images], Gujarat scored 382 for 8 against Orissa in first innings of their match at the East Coast Railway Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Parthiv, who remained undefeated on 127 on Friday, adorned his 593-minute 206 with 14 boundaries before being dismissed by Bibhudutta Panda.

Resuming at an overnight 210 for 3 in response to hosts' paltry 162, the guests negotiated opponent bowling commendably to take an edge over Orissa.

Parthiv was ably supported by Timil Patel, who scored an unbeaten 38 off 148 balls.

Timil and Amit Singh(0) remained unbeaten at the end of the day's play.

While Bibhudutta and Dhiraj Singh bagged two wickets each, Debasis Mohanty and Paresh Patel claimed one wicket apiece.

Brief scores: Orissa vs Gujarat 382 for 8 (Parthiv Patel 206).

Karnataka beats Maharastra

Riding on a devastating spell of bowling by spinner Sunil Joshi (7 for 29), Karnataka thumped Maharashtra by 155 runs in their Group "B" match.

Karnataka thus secured 19 points from six league engagements with three wins and three draws.

Karnataka, resuming at overnight 131 for five wickets, could add only 98 runs on Saturday before being all out for 229 and set a target of 272 runs for the visitors.

Sunil Joshi scalped seven wickets conceeding 29 runs off 13.5 overs and helped Karnataka skittle out Maharashtra for a paltry 116 runs in 36.5 overs and register 155 runs victory.

K P Appanna claimed two wickets and C Raghu the other remaining.

Brief scores: Karnataka 252 and 229 beat Maharashtra 210 and 116 (Sunil Joshi 7 for 29).

Saurashtra win against Hyderabad

A magical seven-wicket haul by left-arm leg spinner Ravindra Jadeja helped Saurashtra beat Hyderabad by 105 runs in their final match to keep alive their chances of entering the knock-out stage of the tournament.

With this win, Saurashtra secured five points and improved their tally to 23 points, while Delhi have 17 points and requires six more to share third position with Saurashtra.

Earlier, Saurashtra scored 133 runs in their first innings and then bowled out Hyderabad for 140, thus conceding a thin seven-run lead to the visitors.

The second innings too was not different as batsmen found scoring runs tough once again with the hosts making mere 183 and setting a target of 177 runs before Hyderabad.

However, chasing the modest target, Hyderabad faltered as Jadeja spun his team to victory, wrapping up the visitors for just 71 runs in 26.5 overs.

Resuming at the overnight score of 14 for 2, Hyderabad never looked to be in the groove this morning as the two left-arm leg spinners, Jadeja (7 for 31) and Rakesh Dhruve (3 for 20) picked up wickets at regular intervals. 

Overnight batsman, MP Arjun was the lone batsman who showed resistance against the turning ball by making 23 before he falling prey to Jadeja.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 133 and 183 beat Hyderabad 140 and 71 (Ravindra Jadeja 7 for 31).

Yusuf helps Baroda beat Andhra

All-rounder Yusuf Pathan scalped four wickets as Baroda defeated Andhra Pradesh by an innings and 60 runs at the Motibag Ground in Vadodara.

Andhra, who conceded a huge lead of 323 runs after their first innings crumbled at just 77, needed some solid batting to save an innings defeat.

However, that was not to be as despite half-centuries by D Prabhu Kiran and M Suresh, the visitors' were folded up in their second innings for 263.

Kiran remained unbeaten on 65 while Suresh scored 54. They, however, missed the services of AG Pradeep, who could not bat in both innings due to an injury.

Kiran tried his best to save an innings defeat but ran out of partners. His 66-ball unbeaten knock contained three sixes and five fours.

Andhra innings came under relentless pressure from Baroda bowlers, especially Yousuf, who finished with figures of four for 72 to take his team's tally to 15 points.

Brief scores: Baroda 400 beat Andhra Pradesh 77 and 263 for 9 (D Prabhu Kiran 65 not out, M Suresh 54, B Sumnth 34, Yusuf Pathan 4 for 72).

TN gain first innings lead over Railways

Having gained a first innings lead of 161 runs, former champions Tamil Nadu reached 33 without loss in their second innings at stumps on the third day of their match against Railways in Chennai on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu pacer Yo Mahesh claimed four for 90 to dismiss Railways for 314 in 111.5 overs and hand his team a healthy lead.

After overnight batsman Cheluvaraj fell for 65, caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik [Images] off Mahesh, wickets fell at regular intervals.

Yere Goud, the other overnight batsman, was dropped on 96 but could not capitalise on the situation and fell after adding just one more run.

Going for a big hit to reach his century, Goud was caught by Arun Karthik off spinner Ashwin. His 294-ball 97 contained 15 hits to the fence.

Cheluvaraj and Goud put on 108 runs in 45 overs for the second wicket.

At close, Tamil Nadu openers Arun Karthik (27) and Prasanna (5) were at the crease.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 475 for six and 33 for no loss vs Railways 314 (Yere Goud 97, Cheluvaraj 65, Yo Mahesh four for 90)