Ranji Trophy: Mumbai Inch Closer To Consecutive Victory

Mumbai need 111 more runs to win in 99 overs with nine wickets in hand on the fourth and final day of the Elite Group A match against Services at Air Force Ground, Palam.

Starting the third day at 253/8, Mohit Avasthi (25) and Himanshu Singh (29) added vital runs on Friday morning to give Mumbai crucial first innings lead of 48 runs with 288 on the board in 73.1 overs. Ayush Mhatre top scored in the innings with 116 on Thursday.

Services were bowled out for 182 in the second innings. Avasthi took 4/48 and Shardul Thakur took 3/39 to derail the hosts. The pacer duo took total 13 wickets in the match to ensure Mumbai stay in front. At stumps Mumbai were 24/1 with first innings centurion Mhatre already back in the hut. Ajinkya Rahane-led side are chasing their second con secutive victory, there third of the season.

Mumbai has made a good comeback after losing the opening game to Baroda. They won against rivals Maharashtra and Odisha at MCA’s BKC Ground and drew in between in Tripura. Mumbai are currently placed third in their group with 16 points.

Results - 15-Red snooker: Shahyan Razmi beat Krishna Tohgaonkar 3-1 (65-48, 46-50, 63-38, 58-36); Rahul Sachdev beat Anant Mehta 3-1 (70-0, 18-61, 62-47, and 38-20); Sumit Ahuja beat Gaurav Jaisinghani 3-1 (43-52, 67-34, 65-49, 65-34); Nikhil Saigal beat Aburag Sharma 3-0 (76 16, 58-48, 57-25); Sonu Matang beat Prashant Dumbhere 3-0 (79(56)-11, 77 3, 63-25); Abhishek Bajaj beat Piyush Limbad 3-1 (40-59, 47 37, 60-34, 99(31)-24); Abhijeet Ranade beat Akshay W 3-0 (66-62, 60-19, 61-39).

Vidarbha’s Karun Nair plays a shot during the 3rd day of Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat, at VCA stadium in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on Friday. PTI J&K thrash Tripura Vivrant Sharma and Abid Mushtaq made contrasting fifties in Jammu and Kashmir's four-wicket win over Tripura on the third day of their match in Jammu on Friday.

Chasing 202 for an outright victory, J&K made 204 for six to cement their second posi tion in the group behind leaders Baroda (27) with 23 points after five rounds. Tripura remained in fifth place with 12 points. Odisha beat Maharashtra Odisha tasted their first win of the season when they beat Maharashtra by three wickets.

The result swelled Odisha's tally to 10 points and now they are at sixth spot after five matches. Maharashtra remained seventh with eight points. Vidarbha in control Meanwhile, in Nagpur, Vidarbha responded to Gujarat first innings total of 343 with 512/8 in 148 overs in the Elite Group B match on Friday. Danish Malewar 115 and Karun Nair 123 scored centuries while Akshay Wadkar also hit a ton towards the end of the day, and was unbeaten on 104. Tejas Patel took three wickets for the visitors.