Ranji Takeaways: Delhi Register First Win, UP Consolidate Group C Position

Uttar Pradesh registered a massive win over Tripura to consolidate their position in Group C on the third day of the seventh round of Ranji Trophy 2018-19. Meanwhile, Delhi too won their first game of the season.

A couple of encounters are heading for exciting finishes but for now, here are the major takeaways from Day 3:

Pivotal win for Uttar Pradesh

After scoring a mammoth 552/7 in their first innings on the back of Priyam Garg (206), Rinku Singh (149) and Akshdeep Nath's (106) solid contributions, UP bundled out Tripura for 108 and 60 to register an innings-and-384-run victory. Tripura were asked to follow on but Ankit Rajpoot (6 for 25) and Imtiaz Ahmed (3 for 30) made it even worse for them.

A bonus-point win couldn't have come at a better time for UP, as they now find themselves at the second spot in Group C with 32 points.

The battle for the second spot is between UP and Jharkhand, who rode on Utkarsh Singh's 114 and a couple of decent contributions from the other batsmen to set a 270-run target for Services. If the Ishan Kishan-led side manage to win this, they will end the seventh round with 30 points.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan are in a top position against Haryana who have shown good fight in their second dig, courtesy Himanshu Rana (83), Chaitanya Bishnoi (87*) and Pramod Chandila (42*). Haryana were 244 for 3 when the stumps were drawn and are still trailing by 128 runs.

First win for Delhi

After conceding a first-innings lead to Delhi, Madhya Pradesh got off to a decent start in their second innings before once again surrendering to Vikas Mishra's guile (6 for 30). The left-arm spinner had scalped six wickets in the first essay as well. Set a target of 29 to win, Delhi lost Kunal Chandela and had to miss out on the bonus point. This was Delhi's first victory of the season. They have a mountain to climb if they are eyeing a spot in the knockouts.

Pitch drama in Puducherry

The match between Puducherry and Uttarakhand finally started on the third day, but could only last for 8.2 overs as the pitch was declared unfit by the umpires. Uttarakhand were 20 without loss when a ball from Pankaj Singh hit his former Rajasthan teammate Vineet Saxena. The match is now expected to take place on a new pitch.

Uttarakhand is currently leading the Group D with 36 points and the only way Puducherry can challenge the Rajat Bhatia-led side for the lone qualifying spot is by winning this encounter.

Other matches

Assam were dismissed for 235 in their second innings, setting Goa a target of 218. In reply, Goa were 78 for 6 at one stage before an unbeaten 88-run stand between Amit Verma (62*) and Lakshay Garg (57*) pushed them to 166 for 6 at the end of Day 3. Goa still require 52 runs while Assam need four wickets.

Anmolpreet Singh (83), Mandeep Singh (63) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (87*) fought hard but couldn't take Punjab past Hyderabad's first innings score of 317. Punjab were bowled out for 303, with T Ravi Teja scalping five wickets. In their second innings, Hyderabad were 155 for 2 with a total lead of 169 runs.

Mumbai bowlers hunted in packs to give their team a first innings lead over Saurashtra. Shreyas Iyer then smashed 83 off 61 deliveries to stretch the lead to 221 runs.

Brief Scores:

Assam 175 & 235 vs Goa 193 & 166/6

Jharkhand 193 & 343 vs Services 267

Bihar 150 & 540/8 vs Nagaland 209 & 112/7

Maharashtra 239 & 172/3 vs Chhattisgarh 462

Bengal 300 vs Andhra 321/9

Karnataka 214 & 290/2 decl vs Railways 143 & 44/1

Mumbai 394 & 175/5 vs Saurashtra 348

Gujarat 321 & 22/1 vs Vidarbha 485

Tamil Nadu 227 & 178/2 vs Himachal Pradesh 463

Hyderabad 317 and 155/2 vs Punjab 303

J&K 127 & 272/7 vs Odisha 323

Haryana 118 & 244/3 vs Rajasthan 490/6 decl