India pacer Mohammed Shami’s five-wicket burst put Bengal on the verge of an outright victory with bonus point against Services on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match here on Saturday.
Shami produced a fine 16-3-51-5 effort, running through the opposition batting lineup, as Services were left reeling on 231 for eight with another 102 runs in deficit.
Bengal had earlier piled up a massive 519 in their first essay and shot Services out for a mere 186 to take a huge lead of 333 runs.
Shami accounted for Services’ opener Shubham Rohilla (0) and No. 3 Ravi Chauhan (8) for initial breakthroughs, and then got rid of Rajat Paliwal (83), Vineet Dhankar (13) and Arjun Sharma (2) to complete his five-for.
In Nadiad, Gujarat were staring at a heavy defeat after they folded for 347 in the second innings, setting Railways 99 to win with a day’s play left.
Railways, who shot out the hosts for 175 in the first innings, had taken a lead of 249 runs riding on Zubair Khan’s 104 and fifties from Ravi Singh (98), captain Bhargav Merai (55) and Karn Sharma (60).
Despite a much-improved show with the bat in the second innings wherein Jaymeet Patel hit 101 and Urvil Patel scored a strokeful 64, Gujarat’s lead was restricted to 98 runs with Karn taking 5/87.
Hosts Assam fought hard on Day Three to take their overall lead to 147 runs, reaching 136/7 in second innings against Haryana.
Assam took a slender lead of 11 runs as they bowled out Haryana for 236 after posting 247 in the first innings, despite visiting batters Yuvraj Singh (84) and Ankit Kumar (50) notching up their fifties.
Mukhtar Hussain provided a much-needed late impetus to Assam with a strokeful 40 not out (46 balls; 4 sixes, 2 fours).
However, Tripura were placed slightly better with an overall lead of 212 runs, reaching 247 for eight in their second innings against Uttarakhand.
Tripura had conceded a lead of 35 runs as Uttarakhand made 301 in response to the hosts’ 266 in their first essay.
Sentu Sarkar was batting on 50 not out as Tripura held their fort strongly until the end of play despite Manisankar Murasingh’s 6/48.
Brief scores:
In Kalyani: Bengal 519 lead Services 186 in 53.5 overs (Nakul Sharma 85 not out; Mohammed Shami 2/37, Suraj Jaiswal 4/51, Akash Deep 3/50) & 231/8 in 61 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 62, Rajat Paliwal 83; Mohammed Shami 5/51, Mukesh Kumar 2/42) by 102 runs.
In Nadiad: Gujarat 175 & 347 in 89.4 overs (Jaymeet Patel 101, Urvil Patel 64; Karn Sharma 5/87) lead Railways 424 by 98 runs.
In Fulung: Assam 247 & 136/7 in 53 overs (Mukhtar Hussain 40 not out; Aman Kumar 3/12) lead Haryana 236 in 71.3 overs (Yuvraj Singh 84, Ankit Kumar 50; Mukhtar Hussain 4/72) by 147 runs.
In Agartala: Tripura 266 & 247/8 in 84 overs (Sridam Paul 48; Sentu Sarkar 50 not out; Mayank Mishra 4/79) lead Uttarakhand 301 in 88.2 overs (Lakshya Raichandani 65, Jagadeesha Suchith 86, Saurabh Rawat 80; Manisankar Mura Singh 6/48, Abhijit Sarkar 3/64) by 212 runs.
