As it happened: Ranji Trophy semifinals, Day Three

Follow the updates of the day three action from both the matches in the semifinal stages of the Ranji Trophy 2017.

Delhi bowlers, Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya, were on a rampage against a Bengal batting line-up that looked frail on Day 3.

Good Morning!

Welcome to Sportstar's LIVE coverage of Day Three from the Ranji Trophy semifinals.

Let us see what Day Three has in store for us! Read on..

Bengal vs Delhi in Pune (Scorecard)

Karnataka vs Vidarbha in Kolkata (Scorecard)

Day 3 Delhi: 271/3  & 398; Bengal 86 all out Karnataka: 294/8 & 301; Vidarbha 195/4

 

Bengal squad Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Chatterjee (vice- captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumder, Abhishek Raman, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kanishk Seth, B Amit and Writtick Chatterjee. Delhi squad Rishabh Pant (captain), Kunal Chandela, Gautam Gambhir, Dhruv Shorey, Himmat Singh, Nitish Rana, Vikas Tokas, Kulwant Khejroliya, Navdeep Saini, Vikas Mishra, Aakash Sudan, Unmukt Chand, Manan Sharma, Shivam Sharma, Milind Kumar.

 

4:30 pm: And it's all over, Bengal all out for 86, Delhi wins by an innings and 26 runs to seal a spot in the finals. Ashok Dinda c Sharma b Khejroliya 2 (9).

The last time Bengal had reached the final of the tournament was in 2006/07, which it lost. Delhi, on the other hand, won the tournament the next season in 2007/08; also their last final appearance.

4:15 pm: Khejroliya sends Goswami 17 (20) back, Bengal 75/9.

4:10 pm: Goswami is trying to go for the shots now. There is nothing more to lose. Saini is pumped up and breathing fire; Bengal 70/8.

There has been two 'on a hat-trick' situation in today's play. First, Mohammed Shami and now, Navdeep Saini. What a day for bowlers!

3:55 pm: WICKET! Saini is on a roll here. Two back-to-back wickets for the youngster. Aamir Gani 0 (6), followed by B Amit 0 (1). He is on a hat-trick; Bengal reeling at 64/8.

3:44 pm: WICKET! Saini knocks Tiwary over, and with that, Bengal's last hopes seems to be buried. The captain departs for 14 (26); Bengal 60/6.

3:20 pm: WICKET! Anustup Majumdar c Pant b Khejroliya 2 (6); Bengal 44/5. It was a short ball from round the wicket, Majumdar went for a pull but the ball touched his glove and landed in the gloves of Pant. Poor cricket!

2:58 pm: WICKET! Bengal seems to be in a hurry to end things. They are crumbling under pressure. Chandela runs W Chatterjee 1 (5) out; Bengal 39/4.

2:50 pm: Saini cleans up Sudip 21 (32), which brings skipper Manoj Tiwary to the crease. Now, he needs to play a captain's knock to bail Bengal out of the mess; Bengal 35/3.

2:30 pm: And that's the end of Abhimanyu Easwaran 13 (25), a big wicket for Delhi. Easwaran aimed for the pull but picked the man at mid-wicket. Chandela takes a fine catch off Khejroliya's bowling; Bengal 33/2, trailing by 79 runs.

2:20 pm: Sudip continues his sublime form. He already found the rope thrice and quickly moved to 20 off 21 balls; Bengal 33/1.

2:00 pm: WICKET! Abhishek Raman 0 (7) lbw Tokas; Bengal 6/1.

Bengal now have a task. Openers Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran are out in the middle.

 

Delhi innings 398 all out; lead by 112 runs; Shami 6/122

1:30 pm: WICKET! Over: 116.6 Kulwant Khejroliya 10(14) ct Anustup Majumdar b Mohammed Shami, Delhi 398/10.

1:18 pm: WICKET! Tokas fails to middle the ball and finds Manoj Tiwary at mid-off, and that’s the second wicket for Boddupalli Amit.

1:12pm: Delhi lead by 100 runs now.

1:05 pm: Shami misses a hat-trick but that's not a worry. He did his best, set the stage for a Bengal comeback.

Mohammed Shami of Bengal showed his class claiming six wickets against Delhi on Day 3 morning.

 

12:58 pm: And that's Shami's fifth victim. Navdeep Saini 0 (1)  falls to a good length delivery outside the off-stump. Vintage finish by a world class bowler; Delhi 384/8. He is on a hat-trick.

12:45 pm: Shami gets the better of Himmat Singh, out leg before for 60 (115), Delhi 384/7.

At lunch, Delhi 378/6; H Singh 54* (106), V Tokas  9* (39) (lead by 92 runs).

11:45 am: Himmat Singh brings up his half-century — 52 runs in 96 balls — taking Delhi to 376/6.

11:30 am: And that's 350 up for Delhi, they lead Bengal by 68 runs.

11:15 am: Himmat Singh and Vikas Tokas are stretching the lead for Delhi. They are rotating the strike and avoiding loose shots, good cricket by Delhi here; 338/6.

10:40 am: Shami is on a roll. Manan miscues a pull shot and finds Easwaran. He departs for a brisk 34 (33), Delhi 328/6.

10:06 am: Delhi now has a one-run lead, but with all their main batters dismissed, it is doubtful how far they can stretch the lead.

9:55 am: Ashok Dinda joins the party, traps Delhi stand-in-captain Rishabh Pant 1 (2), Delhi 281/5.

9:45 am: WICKET! Over: 81.1 Nitish Rana 13(30) lbw Mohammed Shami, Delhi 280/4. What a comeback by Shami. He didn't have a very good day with the ball yesterday.

Karnataka squad Vinay Kumar R (captain), Karun Nair, Mithun A, Shreyas Gopal, Stuart Binny, Arvind Sreenath, C M Gautam (wk), Gowtham K, Mayank Agarwal, Nischal D, Samarth R Vidarbha squad F Y Fazal (captain), A A Wakhare, A A Sarvate, A V Wankhade, Ganesh Satish, S R Ramaswamy, Siddhesh Sunil Neral, Wasim Jaffer, Umesh Yadav, A V Wadkar (wk), R N Gurban

 

Play stopped due to bad light; Vidarbha 195/4 (Lead: 79) Stumps

3:30 pm: At the end of 47 overs, Vidarbha looks poised at 195/4; G Satish 71* (128), A Wadkar 19* (30). The umpires have taken to their lightmeters. Poor visibility has stopped play for the time being. We will be back till the umpires reach a decision.  It seems there will be no more overs bowled today.

Ashwin Achal from the stadium:   An entertaining 88-run fourth-wicket partnership between Apoorv Wankhade and Ganesh Satish kept Vidarbha in the hunt. Wankhade hit a few blazing cover drives to score his runs at a quick pace, while ex-man Karnataka man Satish kept it safe. Wankhade then drove one uppishly to Vinay at cover and fell for 49. It was a crucial wicket, and the jubilant Karnataka players knew it.

Ganesh Satish raises his bat after reaching his half-century against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

 

2:20 pm: WICKET! Aravind tempts Wankhade 49 (48) to go for a drive with a fullish delivery outside off. Vinay Kumar takes an easy catch; Vidarbha 150/4.

2:00 pm: Vinay Kumar concedes two fours in his over; Satish and Wankhade are sticking to their plans. Overall, intelligent cricket from Vidarbha; 145/3, lead by 29 runs.

1:30 pm: Wankhade (23) and Satish (35) are trying to stick around to get the scoreboard ticking. At the end of 27 overs, Vidarbha 114/3.

1:20 pm: Vidarbha limp to 100 runs, thanks to some sensible batting by Apoorv Wankhade 20* (24) and Satish 28* (45); Vidarbha 105/3.

12:40 pm: Aravind strikes, Jaffer — 33 off 48 — is out leg before. This is a huge wicket for Karnataka; Vidarbha 62/3.

At lunch, Vidarbha 58/2; Jaffer 33* (47), G Satish 6* (15) (trail by 58 runs).

Ashwin Achal from the stadium observes: Stuart Binny picks up the second wicket with a beauty. Floats a full outswinger on off, getting Sanjay Ramaswamy to drive and edge it to ‘keeper C.M. Gautam. Fellow pacer S. Arvind has looked the best among the bowlers, moving it big while staying on a good length. Vidarbha will be happy with their Lunch score, but they aren’t completely out of danger yet.

 

11:40 am: WICKET! Binny steals an outside edge off Ramaswamy 17 (26), caught by Gautam; Vidarbha 36/2.

11:15 am: Jaffer has already found three boundaries, quickly moving to 13 off 18 balls. His experience will count for Vidarbha, 19/1.

11:00 am: Wasim Jaffer joins Ramaswamy in the middle. Two more wickets from here will create pressure.

10:55 am: What a start! What a start for Karnataka! Vinay Kumar gets Fazal in the very first over. F Fazal lbw Kumar 0 (2), Vidarbha 0/1.

Ashwin Achal adds:   Vinay Kumar gets captain Faiz Fazal leg-before in just the second ball of the innings. Ball tailed in a long way and surprised Fazal, who didn’t look happy with the umpire's decision. Not a bad thing for Karnataka to lose its final two wickets quickly, as their fast bowlers get the chance to exploit the overcast morning conditions. Vidarbha opener Wasim Jaffer, meanwhile, looks in super touch. A couple of wristy flicks have vanished to the boundary.

 

Innings break

Yadav turns out to be the star bowler this morning, adding two more wickets to his kitty and thereby finishing with a 4/73.

10:45 am: And that's it, Umesh Yadav breaks Nair's resistance. He goes for a well made 153 (287). Karnataka lead Vidarbha by 116 runs.

10:30 am: And that's 300 for Karnataka, 150 runs for Nair.

10:20 am: WICKET! Vinay Kumar 21 (89) lbw Umesh Yadav, Karnataka 296/9.

10:10 am: Karnataka already has a lead of 109 runs, which is a good position to be in.

The Karnataka innings got delayed by 30 minutes, Nair was later dismissed for 153.

 

10:00 am: Nair played a blinder on the second day. He single-handedly rescued Karnataka from a 17/3 situation and remained unbeaten on 148. Skipper Vinay Kumar stuck to his wicket, giving him company.

The Karnataka innings got delayed this morning due to smog, Nair, however said he had no problems to bat.

 

Ashwin Achal reports from Eden Gardens: The umpires walk to the middle and use the light meter. It's not good enough to start play. Karnataka overnight batsman and centurion Karun Nair tells the umpires that he is willing to bat despite the poor light. The umpires tell Karun that it is best to wait for a while longer.