Ranji Trophy: Chhattisgarh outshine Himachal in style

Dharamsala: Chhattisgarh registered their maiden win of the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season with a bonus point after thrashing Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 114 runs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday.

After Chhattisgarh posted 456 in their first innings to secure a 281-run lead, Himachal were bowled out for a meagre 167 in their second dig, thanks to seamer Shahnawaz Hussain`s career-best haul of 6/53 on the penultimate day of the fifth round Group D clash.

In another Group D tie, Vidarbha held the upper hand at the end of day three after bowling out Bengal for 207 in their first innings and making them follow on in Kalyani.

Resuming their first innings on 89/3, Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary (50) took the score past the 130-run mark before the innings derailed as the hosts conceded a 292-run lead.

Following on, Bengal were in early trouble as they slipped to 10/3 before Sudip Chatterjee (40 not out) and Tiwary (36 not out) ensured Bengal didn`t suffer any more jolts, moving them to 86/3 by stumps.

In another match of the same Group, Goa secured a slender seven-run lead against the Services, thanks to a last-wicket stand of 27 between Keenan Vaz (70) and Heramb Parab (9) at the Palam ground in Delhi.

At stumps, Services were 108/3 in their second innings.

In Group C, Mumbai conceded a mammoth 404-run lead to Baroda, who now look firm favourites to win the game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Mumbai's second innings started off on a positive note as opener Prithvi Shaw found great rhythm in his fluent 56, but lost three wickets for 15 runs towards the end of the day to finish on 102/4.

In another Group C tie, Odisha batsmen displayed noteworthy skill and grit to negotiate a relatively strong Tamil Nadu attack at the DRIEMS ground in Cuttack.

The home side rode on openers Sandeep Pattnaik (91) and Natraj Behera`s (66) composed fifties to reach 286/4 in response to Tamil Nadu`s first innings score of 530/8.

With the hosts still 244 behind Tamil Nadu`s first innings total, a stalemate looks all but likely.

In Group B, Gujarat rode on opener Priyank Panchal`s crafty 145 and Rujul Bhatt`s unbeaten 75 to post 304/4 in reply to Saurashtra`s first innings total of 570 at Rajkot.

By the end of the day`s play, Gujarat had brought the deficit down to 266 runs as the match headed towards a draw on the final day.

In another match, Haryana stretched their lead to 252 with five wickets in their kitty after bowling Rajasthan out for 150 in response to the host`s first innings score of 223 at Rohtak.

At stumps, the home side were 179/5 with Shivam Chauhan top-scoring with 65 runs.

In Jamshedpur, Jammu and Kashmir rode on captain Parvez Rasool (70) and Owais Amin Shah`s (50) 119-run sixth-wicket stand to post 246/7 and extend their lead to 330 runs against Jharkhand.

In Group A, Uttar Pradesh took a 260-run lead in their second innings to end the penultimate day on 229/2 against Assam in Guwahati.

At stumps, opener Umang Sharma was unbeaten on 131 with Mohammed Saif (38 not out) in company as the match looks set to end in a draw.

In Alur, Delhi rode on veteran opener Gautam Gambhir`s unbeaten 135 to post 277/4 in response to Karnataka`s 649 as the tie is unlikely to produce any result on the final day.

The Railways posted 330/5 at the end of day three in response to hosts Maharashtra`s 481 as the match looks heads towards a draw in Pune.