Karnataka rode on rising Shreyas Gopal's career-best 150 to leave Mumbai reeling at 120/3 and trail by 277 runs in their second innings of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 quarter-final clash at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Saturday.
Suryakumar Yadav (55 not out) and Akhil Herwadkar (26) helped Mumbai stay afloat in the contest after Karnataka took a mammoth 397-run first-innings lead, having posted 570 in their first essay.
Resuming the day at 395/6, Karnataka continued to build on the lead with Shreyas and K.Gowtham (38) frustrating the opposition bowlers. Shreyas went on to register his highest first-class score and stayed unbeaten on 150.
In reply, Mumbai lost their openers Jay Bista (20) and Prithvi Shaw (14) with just 34 on the board before Suryakumar went on to register an unbeaten half-century but Karnataka walked away with the honours again on the third evening.
In Vijayawada, Himmat Singh's 71 helped Delhi post 405 in their first innings and gain an overall lead of 67 runs against Madhya Pradesh at the Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA Cricket Ground.
MP then ended the day on 47/2 and trail by 20.
With 180/2 at the end of the second day, Delhi lost the big wickets of Kunal Chandela (81), Nitish Rana (43) and Rishabh Pant (49) at crucial junctures. Himmat, however, continued to grind it out and helped the team take first-innings lead during his 138-ball stay.
MP lost Rajat Patidar (5) to Vikas Tokas in the fourth over and will need a collective effort on the fourth day to give Delhi a scare.
In another quarter-final match, Bengal continued to mount the pressure on defending champions Gujarat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Bengal built a lead of 307 after ending the day on 177/1 in their second essay with opener Abhimanyu Easwaran unbeaten on 93 and Writtick Chatterjee not out on 40.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat were shot down for 224 after starting the day on 180/6. Ashoke Dinda, Ishan Porel and B.Amit picked up three wickets each to dismantle the Gujarat batting line-up in 74.5 overs.
In the fourth quarter-final at Surat, Vidarbha continued their dominance over Kerala taking a 147-run lead in the second innings.
Starting the day at 32/2, Kerala were shot down for 176 after being 165/5 with Rajneesh Gurbani picking up 5/38 in response to Vidarbha's first innings total of 246.
In their second essay, Vidarbha rode on Faiz Fazal's unbeaten half-century to end the third day on 77/1.
--IANS
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