Ranji Trophy, Super league, 2007-08 [Ranji SS available]

[apocalypse]

I totally forgot to replace Dravid with Sehwag and Laxman with Gambhir... Now I will lose my top position...

u missed substituting two more Karthik and Munaf

[chanakya]

Agarkar batting mumbai 85/5

[Cricketics]

Mumbai bowled out for 166 Sharma and Sangwan 3 wickets each Delhi in reply - 28 for no loss in 4 overs Gambhir on 23 Chopra on 4

[beetle]

:omg_smile:

Agarkar batting mumbai 85/5

[apocalypse]

why did Delhi kept out Shikhar Dhawan for that crappy Chopra :whatchutalkingabout

[The Outsider]

Motu failed again!!:wall:

[Chandan]

Motu failed again!!:wall:

What the hell?? How can Gambhir succeed and Sehwag fail? What has happened to Sehwag? Just two three big knocks and he might be back in the team for Australia tour! The guy just can't sieze the moment!!

[The Outsider]

What the hell?? How can Gambhir succeed and Sehwag fail? What has happened to Sehwag? Just two three big knocks and he might be back in the team for Australia tour! The guy just can't sieze the moment!!

What's more is that if, and it's a big if at the moment, Sehwag does tour Australia he will be a huge success, IMO.

[Chandan]

What's more is that if' date=' and it's a big if at the moment, Sehwag does tour Australia he will be a huge success, IMO.[/quote'] That is what I've been thinking and hence wanted him to score few big knocks in Ranji to get selected in the touring 15. We might see one in the 2nd inning as Dravid hit against Bombay!

[fineleg]

I sincerely hope they dont pick Sehwag for Aus tour. He will waste a spot in the squad and won't perform there IMO. He will edge the pace bowlers and give slips catch practice or get bowled to a ball coming into him. We should take openers with solid technique, not Sehwag please.

[fineleg]

Catch practice to keeper here? V Sehwag c Samant b Nayar

[Chandan]

I sincerely hope they dont pick Sehwag for Aus tour. He will waste a spot in the squad and won't perform there IMO. He will edge the pace bowlers and give slips catch practice or get bowled to a ball coming into him. We should take openers with solid technique, not Sehwag please.

And can you name a few such species from India, who are playing for either India or Ranji teams?

[The Outsider]

That's all good and accepted but you don't average 50 over 50 test matches with a SR of 75 and 9 150+ scores without class. If we are to have a chance in Australia, Sehwag has to be part of the plan.

[Mr. Wicket]

Motu failed again!!:wall:

Don't worry, he'll still get to bowl last on this Wankhede track. :D (Yes, I know we're talking about 2 different motus...)

[Gambit]

GG is batting well. He is breathing down KKD and Jaffer's neck. Aag went for 5 an over again. :D

[apocalypse]

1st Day round up Punjab 324 for 7 (Kaul 151*, Dharmani 46, Kumar 4-60) v Uttar Pradesh Scorecard Uday Kaul scored his second century in three matches - this one a career-best, unbeaten 151 - to help Punjab recover from two collapses against Uttar Pradesh - one at the top of the order and another in the lower middle. Kaul, the 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman, came in with Punjab struggling at 17 for 3 and was involved in two crucial partnerships with captain Pankaj Dharmani and Ravi Inder. After Punjab had recovered from the early wickets to reach 224 for 4, they lost three quick wickets again. But Kaul, who hit 21 boundaries in his 232-ball stay, strung together another partnership, this time an unbetaten 84-run stand with Charanjit Singh to take Punjab to 342 for 7. For UP, Praveen Kumar, playing his first match this season, took 4 for 60. Tamil Nadu 289 for 5 (Mukund 108, Badrinath 93*) v Karnataka Scorecard Playing his first Ranji trophy match, the 17-year-old Abhinav Mukund scored his maiden first-class century to take Tamil Nadu to a strong position against Karnataka. His captain S Badrinath carried on the good work and neared a century of his own as Tamil Nadu ended the first day at 289 for 5 at the Chepauk. Mukund, replacing Dinesh Karthik in the side, came to the wicket in the first over at the fall of S Anirudha's wicket. In a 267-minute stay at the wicket, he hit 13 boundaries and put together two important partnerships with M Vijay and Badrinath. Although they lost R Srinivasan towards the end of the day, Badrinath held firm with an unbeaten 93. Tamil Nadu went into this match without offspinning allrounder R Ashwin who fractured his left wrist and will be out of action for at least four weeks. Maharashtra 249 for 7 (Rao 92*, Bahutule 74, Malik 4-46) v Himachal Pradesh Scorecard Captain Venugopal Rao and former captain Sairaj Bahutule led Mahrashtra's recovery after they were reduced to 81 for 6 by Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala. Vikramjeet Malik, Himachal's right-arm medium-pacer, took four of the first six wickets to vindicate Sandeep Sharma's decision to put Maharashtra in. Rao and Bahutule, batting with due caution, put together 151 runs for the seventh wicket. Maharashtra ended the day at 249 for 7, with Rao nearing a century. Bahutule fell lbw to Ashok Thakur for 74, seven overs before stumps. Orissa 21 for 0 trail Andhra 179 (Shankara Rao 73, Jayachandra 6-37) by 158 runs Scorecard Pinninti Jayachandra, Orissa's right-arm medium-pacer, took six wickets in 12.3 overs to skittle Andhra out for 179. In reply, Orissa got off to a solid start as they ended the day at 21 for no loss at the Barabati Stadium. It could have been much worse for Andhra as they were 65 for 6 at one stage, but G Shankara Rao provided the rearguard with what could be 73 crucial runs. He put on 62 runs for the seventh wicket with Y Gnaneshwara Rao and 49 for the eighth wicket with Mohammed Faiq. The star of the day, though, was Jayachandra, who came on second change, and ran through the middle and lower-middle order. Delhi 159 for 4 (Gambhir 81*) trail Mumbai 166 (Sangwan 3-38, Sharma 3-60) by 7 runs Scorecard Delhi looked good for a big first-innings lead after their bowlers bundled Mumbai out for 166 and Gautam Gambhir led their batting reply to bring them within 7 runs of Mumbai's total with six wickets in hand at the Wankhede Stadium. Pradeep Sangwan, Delhi's 17-year-old left-arm medium-pacer, was the pick of the bowlers as he used the early-morning freshness at the Wankhede perfectly after Mumbai had chosen to bat first. Sangwan, who took three wickets, was supported well by Ishant Sharma who also took three wickets. Prashant Naik was Mumbai's top-scorer, with 40 runs. In reply, Gambhir started aggressively as he went about erasing the deficit in a hurry. He ended the day unbeaten at 81, which came of 113 deliveries, with 11 boundaries. Saurashtra 220 for 5 (Shah 62*, Kotak 58) v Rajasthan Scorecard Half-centuries from captain Jaydev Shah and Shitanshu Kotak took Saurashtra to 220 for 5 against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Saurashtra made a cautious start and runs came slowly for major part of the day. Shah, though, quickened the scoring towards the end of the day, as he made an unbeaten 62 off 88 deliveries. For Rajasthan, Afroz Khan, the right-arm medium-pacer, took two wickets. Hyderabad 220 for 4 (Ravi Teja 72, Manohar 71) v Baroda Scorecard The Hyderabad openers, who scored half-centuries, made the Baroda bowlers struggle and the middle-order carried on to take Hyderabad to a position of strength at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Ravi Teja and Daniel Manohar played contrasting knocks as Teja batted aggressively and Manohar provided the caution. They put on 131 runs for the first wicket. Anoop Pai, who finished the day with 41 not out, defied Baroda even as they took three quick wickets towards the end of the day.

[Cricketics]

Delhi Mumbai game seemz to be nicely set up.. though Delhi in good position but not that good a score really.. would be fun game on day 2.. and really sad to see sehwag fail again.. damn Gambhir is looking good.. well done Gamb.. go for 100

[apocalypse]

Day 2 round up Uttar Pradesh 352 for 7 (Raina 123, Kaif 66, VRV Singh 5-102) trail Punjab 381 (Kaul 162) by 29 runs Scorecard Suresh Raina's quick century - his second in three matches this season - and VRV Singh's five-wicket haul set up an exciting contest for the first-innings lead between Uttar Pradesh and Punjab at Mohali. At stumps, UP trailed by 29 runs and had three wickets in hand. After taking Punjab's last three wickets for 57 runs and then making a solid start, UP lost three quick wickets to be reduced to 91 for 3. That's when Raina joined Mohammad Kaif and counterattacked immediately. By the time Kaif got out for 66, they had put on 153 in 28.1 overs and brought UP right back into the game. It was Raina, though, who took the fight to Punjab and scored 123 runs in 130 deliveries, 88 of them coming in fours and sixes. After Raina's dismissal, Piyush Chawla (30 off 28 balls)and Praveen Kumar (20 off 14 balls) brought out some big hits and took UP close. In 26 balls, their unbeaten partnership had scored 28. VRV Singh, although pretty expensive, kept Punjab in the game with 5 for 102. This is his first match this season, as he was recovering from an injury. His last international match was the Chittagong Test. Karnataka 144 for 6 (Shinde 45, Ramkumar 3-32) trail Tamil Nadu 421 (Badrinath 143, Ramkumar 65) by 277 runs Scorecard Tamil Nadu turned the screw on Karnataka, reducing them to 144 for 6 after their batsmen carried on from a good first day to score 421 in the first innings. Karnataka still need 77 runs to avoid the follow-on, which should be critical for Tamil Nadu to look for an outright result. R Rakmumar, the left-arm spinner, followed his cameo with the bat with three wickets for 32 runs. He is now one short of 100 first-class wickets. Earlier, S Badrinath scored his 13th first-class century and made sure Tamil Nadu capitalised on a century scored by Ranji debutant Abhinav Mukund. Badrinath, who scored 143, got able support from the lower-order, especially Ramkumar, who scored 65 in 76 balls. Himachal Pradesh 83 (Bahutule 5-29, Sayyed 2-7) and 41 for 2 (Fallah 2-18) trail Maharashtra 310 (Rao 112, Agharkar 46) Scorecard Sairaj Bahutule, who had helped Venugopal Rao resurrect Maharashtra's first innings, took 5 for 29 to dismiss Himachal Pradesh for 83 and put Maharashtra in the box seat in Dharamsala. To make matters worse for Himachal, they lost two wickets for 41 after being asked to follow on. Himachal had a poor start, losing a wicket in the first over itself. Only Maninder Bisla, their wicketkeeper-batsman, offered some fight, but his unbeaten 23 could do only so much. Earlier, Rao scored his first century for Maharashtra to take them past 300. After the 151-run seventh-wicket stand with Bahutule yesterday, Rao put on 68 for the eighth wicket with Salil Agharkar, who made 46. Andhra 179 and 67 for 2 lead Orissa 140 (Watekar 5-40, Gnaneshwara Rao 2-15) by 106 runs Scorecard Hemal Watekar, Andhra's opener and an occasional offbreak bowler, took five wickets to bowl Orissa out for 140, which gave Andhra a 39-run first-innings lead. Orissa had made a cautious start and after losing three quick wickets got a partnership going to take them to 83 for 3. From there Watekar reduced them to 100 for 7 and then came back to dismiss Halhadar Das, who top scored with 30. Andhra had scored 67 for 2 at stumps and looked good to set Orissa a challenging target in the fourth innings. Mumbai 166 and 154 for 2 (Kukreja 89*) lead Delhi 251 (Gambhir 89, Bhatia 49, Salvi 3-44) by 89 runs Scorecard The Mumbai bowlers kept their first-innings deficit to within manageable proportions before Sahil Kukreja gave them a superb start, as Mumbai ended the second day 89 runs in front with eight wickets in hand. Kukreja's unbeaten 89, coming off 119 deliveries, was an uncharacteristically fast innings and brought Mumbai right back into the match. Earlier, Gautam Gambhir missed a century, Rahul Bhatia a half-century, and Delhi a big lead as their last six wickets fell for 82 runs. The first session on the Wankhede track is often the most difficult and that was the case again, as the Delhi batsmen handed back the initiative that they had grabbed on the opening day. Rajasthan 155 for 6 (Khoda 44, Dhurv 2-35) trail Saurashtra 307 (Shah 71, Dhurv 46*, Pankaj Singh 4-91) Scorecard Rajasthan collapsed from 92 for 1 to 149 for 6 as Saurashtra took charge of the match in Jaipur. Saurashtra, resuming at 220 for 5, managed 307, thanks to an unbeaten 46 by the left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv. For Rajasthan, Gagan Khoda and Nikhil Doru looked good in their 73-run second-wicket stand, but both fell at the same score. Dhurv came back to haunt them as he dismissed Khoda to break the partnership. There was a 48-run stand between Vineet Saxena and Robin Bist, but they too fell within five runs of each other to leave Rajasthan struggling. Baroda 191 for 2 (Williams 91*, Bilakhia 68) trail Hyderabad 261 (Pai 62, Irfan 4-71, Sumit 3-39) by 70 runs Scorecard Irfan Pathan recovered from an ordinary first day as Baroda took the last six Hyderabad wickets for 44 before Connor Williams took charge with an unbeaten 91. Hyderabad, resuming at 220 for 4, collapsed without a fight against the new ball. Irfan's angle from round the stumps and Sumit Singh's disciplined bowling did the trick for Baroda. In reply, Williams and Azharuddin Bilakhia made the Hyderabad bowlers work hard, as they finished the day at 191 for 2, only 70 adrift. Bilakhia fell just before stumps for 68. (Click here for full report.)

[Guest Hiten.]

Mumbai dictating terms vs Delhi (as always) :) Lead of 314 now. 38th title here we come :D

[Chandan]

ROUND THREE, DAY 3 Delhi 251 and 59 for 0 (Chopra 33*) require another 328 runs to beat Mumbai 166 and 471 for 9 dec. (Kukreja 199, Nayar 93, Sangwan 5-102) Scorecard In what is turning out to be a fascinating tussle between two traditional rivals in domestic cricket, both Mumbai and Delhi ended the third day of their third-round Ranji Trophy clash harbouring hopes of victory. Delhi were 59 without loss, and need 328 more for victory after Mumbai declared at 471 for 9 in their second innings at the Wankhede Stadium. — PHOTO: PTI In top gear: Abhishek Nayar chipped in with an aggressive 93 to power Mumbai into a position of strength against Delhi. Outsmarted in the first session three days ago, Mumbai deployed its resources efficiently and effectively thereafter and has set a stiff fourth innings target of 387 for Delhi to strive for full five points from the match. Thanks to Sahil Kukreja’s fine show of patience and off-side stroke play (199, 380m, 272b, 25 x 4s, 1 x 6), Abhishek Nayar’s typical show of aggression (93, 120m, 96b, 11 x 4s, 3 x 6s) and Ajit Agarkar’s astute effort (60, 117m, 69b, 7 x 4s, 2 x 6s) with the bat, Mumbai was able to stretch its second innings total to 471 before Amol Muzumdar applied the declaration. Showing no signs of wilting under pressure, Delhi’s opening pair Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir whittled down the target by 59 runs. Sangwan impressive Kukreja who threw away a chance to notch his first double century in the BCCI’s domestic competition, Nayar and Agarkar may have stolen the thunder on a day when the bowling was flayed for nearly 200 runs in the first two and half hour session, but not far from the Mumbai trio was Delhi left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan. The 17-year-old who took three wickets in the first innings, impressed again with the ability to bring the back ball into the right hander from over the wicket and was rewarded with a first five-wicket collection in his career that’s only three weeks and as many matches old. Sangwan might soon join the plethora of left-hand seamers to don the India cap; he’s given sufficient evidence of making the grade. With a ball that was 50 overs old, Sangwan produced an in-dipper that rapped Muzumdar in front. Rohit Sharma who had fallen victim to Sangwan in the first innings, was nonplussed for 23 minutes and 14 balls before he gifted his wicket playing a nothing shot to a bouncer from Mumbai’s chief tormentor. Productive stand After Sharma’s injudicious shot, Kukreja and Nayar punished the spinners — Chetanya Nanda in particular and the off-spinner Narinder Singh. The pressure to bowl 37 overs by lunch session and urgency to avail the second new ball when it was due resulted in Mumbai making the most of the scoring opportunities presented by the slow bowlers. Their fifth-wicket partnership delivered 174. Delhi claimed the second new ball in the 84th over and Sangwan got into the act capturing the wickets of Nayar (bowled off the under-edge) and Kukreja flashed outside the off stump and nicked for Chopra to take off from second slip and take the catch in front of the first. The Mumbai second innings revolved around Kukreja and after his exit, Agarkar — in good nick this season — batted with purpose to make a stroke-filled half century. Mumbai was denied further gains in the last hour. Delhi used the heavy roller and thereafter Chopra and Gambhir faced the attack in a calm manner, though the left hander on 11 escaped getting run out at the striker’s end when Agarkar picked up the defensive shot on his follow through and attempted a direct hit, but missed the stumps. With 328 more required, and with Sehwag still to come in, the last day promises plenty of excitement. Punjab 381 and 238 for 7 (Inder 62, Ricky 76*, Chawla 3-50) lead Uttar Pradesh 375 (Kumar 38*, VRV Singh 7-112) by 244 runs Scorecard Ravi Inder's 62 prevented UP from running through the Punjab second innings at Mohali © Cricinfo Ltd VRV Singh took two quick wickets early on in the day to secure a six-run first-innings lead for Punjab but they then lost seven wickets to set up a tense final day's play at Mohali. At stumps, Punjab led Uttar Pradesh by 244 runs with three wickets in hand. V.R.V. Singh, with a seven-wicket haul, halted Uttar Pradesh’s progress in the nick of time and ensured Punjab got the first innings lead on the third day of the Ranji Super League match here on Sunday. U.P., which was 352 for seven overnight, could add only 23 runs to fall short of Punjab’s total by six runs. Needing 30 at the start of the day to take the first-innings lead, UP lost their last three wickets for 19 runs; Praveen Kumar was left stranded on 38 while VRV Singh finished with a five-for. Kumar then sparked off a top-order collapse, reducing Punjab to 92 for 4, but Ravi Inder, playing his third match, and the veteran Ravneet Ricky added 74 for the fifth wicket. Ricky continued after Inder's dismissal for a career-best 62. Chawla kept UP in the game with three late wickets, including Inder's. Tamil Nadu 421 and 185 for 6 (Vijay 47, Aiyappa 3-30) lead Karnataka 221 (Amarnath 5-74, Ramkumar 4-65) by 385 runs Scorecard By not enforcing the follow-on, despite a 200-run first-innings lead, and by adding 185 more in the second innings, Tamil Nadu have almost batted Karnataka out of the match. The decision to bat again may have to do with Yo Mahesh picking up an ankle injury while bowling; he went off after that, returned to bowl one over and went off again. An overnight declaration, though, is on the cards. Amarnath comes up with a brilliant spell — Photo: K. Pichumani VISIBLY ELATED: P. Amarnath took his maiden five-wicket haul as Tamil Nadu bowled out Karnataka to take the first innings lead. After P. Amarnath’s maiden Ranji five-wicket haul had helped Tamil Nadu dismiss Karnataka for 221 and secure a first-innings lead of 200, the home side, deciding not to enforce the follow on, scored 185 for six in 61 overs. Double strike N.C. Aiyappa picked up three for 30 to enable Karnataka keep Tamil Nadu’s second innings in check. His double-strike in the space of three deliveries separated by the lunch break reduced the host to 17 for two. The tall seamer had S. Anirudha caught splendidly by Robin Uthappa at gully as lunch was taken. After the interval, first-innings century-maker Abhinav Mukund gloved one down the leg-side for wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu to complete the catch. Patient knock Opener M. Vijay compiled a patient 47 (115b, 3x4, 2x6), adding 76 in 167 balls with captain S. Badrinath (46) for the third wicket. It was a period of restrictive bowling, typified by Akhil operating with men in run-saving positions. With the lead yet to cross 300, Badrinath was caught in the deep off a mis-timed pull shot. Deserved wicket Left-arm spinner K.P. Appanna, whose integrity of action and flight was impressive, had Vijay caught at slip for a deserved wicket. K. Shri Vasudeva Das chipped in with 23 before being consumed by an Aiyappa delivery that swung away from him. R. Srinivasan and R. Ramkumar batted till close after K.H. Gopinath had hit a floated full-toss from Sunil Joshi to mid-off. Amarnath earlier answered Tamil Nadu’s call for wickets after Sunil Joshi and B. Akhil had seen off more than an hour’s play in the first session. Joshi singled out Ramkumar, hitting the left-arm spinner for five fours. His partnership of 58 with B. Akhil took Karnataka past 200 before Amarnath struck. The 25-year-old seamer trapped both batsmen in front and followed it up by having Vinay Kumar caught well at fine-leg off a short ball. Ramkumar scalps four Ramkumar won an appeal for leg-before against Aiyappa to end Karnataka’s first innings; he finished with four for 65. Amarnath, who returned figures of five for 74, led the Tamil Nadu team off the field to applause. Maharashtra 310 and 22 for 0 beat Himachal Pradesh 83 and 247 (Mannu 89, Mukesh Sharma 56, Fallah 6-49) by 10 wickets Scorecard Maharashtra completed a rout at Dharamshala as they bowled Himachal Pradesh out for 247 in the second innings and knocked off the required 22 with ease to take the maximum six points from the match. Samad Fallah, the left-arm opening bowler making his first-class debut, took six wickets to snuff out the resistance led by Ajay Mannu and Mukesh Sharma. It was a marked improvement from Himachal after their first-innings 83, but once Mannu and Mukesh got out they collapsed from 231 for 5 to 247 all out. While Maharashtra recorded their second outright win in three games, this was the second time Himachal, last season's Plate League champions, conceded a bonus point. Orissa 140 and 32 for 0 require another 295 to beat Andhra 179 and 287 for 9 dec. (Shankara Rao 91, Pradeep 60, Premjit Das 3-53) Scorecard The Andhra batsmen improved on their first-innings performance, thanks to spirited lower-order batting, and set Orissa a challenging 327 to get in a little over a day's play. Orissa had made a cautious start to negotiate the 13 overs before stumps without any casualties. The two openers, Siba Sundar Das and Bikash Swarup Pati, were unbeaten on 23 and eight runs respectively. Earlier on Sunday morning, Andhra — resuming at 67 for two — played steadily for most part of the day to declare at 287 for nine. G. Shankara Rao, once again, shone with the bat scoring 91 to shore up Andhra’s second innings. Inspired bowling Overnight batsmen, A. Satya Kumar Varma and skipper Mannava Prasad, managed to play out seven overs against some inspired bowling by Debasis Mohanty and newcomer Pritamjit Das. Mohanty produced a terrific in-cutter to uproot Prasad’s stump for 22. Y. Gnaneswara Rao did not last long, guiding Pritamjit into the safe hands of S.S. Das at slips for two. Varma and A.G. Pradeep joined forces to put on 51 runs for the fifth wicket before Varma played on a low delivery from captain Pravanjan Mullick for 38 after occupying the crease for nearly four hours and facing 137 balls. After the lunch was taken at 141 for five, the left-right combination of G. Shankara Rao and Pradeep played with purpose to add a further 108 for the sixth wicket in 32.5 overs to increase the lead. The session between lunch and tea was very fruitful for Andhra, which added 98 runs in 29 overs without any fuss. The duo went into tea at 239 for five which gave Andhra an overall lead of 278. After Andhra lost Mohammad Faiq (8) and D. Kalyankrishna (0), left-handed M. Suresh joined Rao. Rao moved into the 90s but ran out of luck as Pritamjit produced a perfect yorker when the stocky left-hander shaped up for an off-drive. Rao (91) surpassed his previous best of 73 he scored in the first innings. Orissa openers played out the 13 overs without any problem. S.S. Das played a fluent knock with four hits to the fence. Saurashtra 307 and 253 for 3 (Pujara 151*, Vaghela 51, Aslam 3-51) lead Rajasthan 172 (Jobanputra 4-47, Maniar 3-35) by 388 runs Scorecard Cheteshwar Pujara batted Rajasthan almost out of the game with an unbeaten 151 after the Saurashtra bowlers had dismissed the remaining four Rajasthan batsmen cheaply to gain a 135-run first-innings lead. Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar two wickets each in the morning as Rajasthan could add only 17 to their overnight 155. Coming in at 29 for 2, Pujara took the attack to the Rajasthan bowlers and hit 23 fours and two sixes in his innings. Opener Kanaiya Vaghela played second foil with a cautious 51. All the three wickets to fall were taken by left-arm spinner Mohammad Aslam. Hyderabad 261 and 40 for 1 trail Baroda 476 for 9 dec. (Williams 153, Solanki 78, Lalith Mohan 4-132) by 172 runs Scorecard Ravi Teja defied the Baroda bowlers with his unbeaten 27 © Cricinfo Ltd The question at the start of the third day was whether Baroda could score quick runs and give themselves enough time to bowl out Hyderabad. The visitors did most of the things right on a slow track, scoring 285 runs at 4.07 runs per over before declaring at 476 for 9, and claimed a wicket before the end of day's play. If they can remove Ravi Teja - unbeaten on 27 - early on the final day, they could well achieve the outright win. Nearly every Baroda batsman chipped in with runs. Connor Williams went past 150, Rakesh Solanki cut and drove merrily to make 78 while Pinal Shah irritated Hyderabad with his 68. Baroda scored 123 runs without the loss of any wicket in the first session, 111 runs for the loss of three in the second and 51 runs came in 8.1 overs in the last before they declared. Williams, overnight on 91, reached his ton with a steer to point and continued to bat positively to make 153. He swept and drove well before falling to a top-edged pull off left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan. However, it was Solanki who began the attack in the morning. He cut Amol Shinde and spanked Ashwin Yadav on the up through cover before wristing one past square leg, forcing Hyderabad to take the new ball in the 16th over of the day. Solanki pulled the first ball just past a diving square leg and flicked one uppishly in the same region. Yusuf Pathan, who hit a furious 183 in the previous game, tried to up the ante further. He swept his first delivery to the boundary, survived a drop catch of yet another sweep before sending a Pragyan Ojha delivery to deep midwicket boundary. But he fell soon, done in by an arm-ball from Ojha. Solanki fell to a superb reflex catch by Mohammad Shakeer when he drilled Ashwin to the left of short cover. But Baroda's plan was to attack and whoever came in played their part. Shah played a knock studded with improvised strokes. He nagged Hyderabad with chips over the infield, traditional sweeps and more than a few reverse-sweeps, topping it with a six over long-on. Irfan Pathan played his part in the 71-run partnership with Shah by rotating the strike and wielding the long handle at times before he was out leg-before at the stroke of tea. Irfan struck with the ball too, getting Daniel Manohar, who made 71 in the first innings, to edge for a second-ball duck. Like in the first innings, he soon shifted to a round-the-wicket attack and finished with figures of 7-3-15-1. At the other end, Teja picked 14 runs from 21 Irfan deliveries and the brief battle between the two was the highlight of the last session. After playing seven balls quietly, Teja started off with a rousing square cut off Irfan before cutting one to the third-man boundary. Irfan came back with a fuller delivery and Teja, caught at the crease, quickly lunged forward to defend. Irfan got the next one to shape away and Teja stabbed it low in front of second slip, who couldn't quite get his palms under it. Few balls later Teja edged one through the gully region before deciding to pull the shutters down. Hyderabad need to fight hard to stave off defeat, and could take heart from the fact that the pitch was still favouring the batsmen. Connor Williams continued strongly from his overnight 91 and all other Baroda batsmen contributed as they declared towards the end of the third day with a big first-innings lead of 215. Irfan Pathan struck with the second ball of the Hyderabad innings, but Ravi Teja and Anoop Pai saw them through to stumps without any further loss. Earlier Williams scored 153 runs - his 14th first-class century - and Azharuddin Bilakhia, Rakesh Solanki and Pinal Shah scored half-centuries to set up the declaration for Baroda.