After the 10-team Indian Premier League 2022 concluded on May 29, the action shifted back to the senior men’s domestic season. The second half of the split Ranji Trophy season, that was affected due to Covid-19, resumed on June 6 with all the quarter-finals taking place in Bengaluru.
While Uttar Pradesh beat a star-studded Karnataka, Mumbai dominated Uttarakhand to set up semi-final encounter at the Just Cricket Academy Ground, Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh defeated Punjab and Jharkhand went down to Bengal’s mighty batting performance to meet each other in Alur.
On Tuesday, the final four teams began the semifinal contests to secure a berth in the final.
Here’s a round-up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals:
Mumbai vs Uttar Pradesh
Mumbai dominated day two and it was more of the same on day three. At stumps on day two, Uttar Pradesh trailed Mumbai’s first innings total by 370 runs and had eight wickets remaining. They faced a tough challenge but not an impossible one. However, Mumbai were clinical with the ball, as Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi and Tanush Kotian returned with three wickets each, and UP were bowled out for 180 runs. Having secured a first innings lead of 213 runs, Mumbai captain Prithvi Shaw came out all guns blazing and scored a 71-ball 54. At stumps on day three, the 41-time champions had a 346-run lead with nine wickets in hand and Yashasvi Jaiswal (35) and Armaan Jaffer (32) at the crease.
Bengal vs Madhya Pradesh
Bengal trailed Madhya Pradesh’s first innings total by 144 runs at stumps on day two, with Manoj Tiwary and Shahbaz Ahmed having added an unbeaten 143-run stand for the sixth wicket. The two batters went on to register centuries but that wasn’t enough as MP managed to secure a 68-run first innings lead. Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain and Puneet Datey picked three wickets each. In their second innings, MP got to 163/2 at stumps on day three. Rajat Patidar (63*) and skipper Aditya Shrivastava (34*), in at No 4 and 5 respectively, were going strong and the lead had swelled to 231 runs.
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