A hard-hitting half century from fit-again Hardik Pandya couldn’t prevent Mumbai from taking a narrow 29-run first innings lead on day three of their Ranji Trophy match on Sunday.

Pandya, who had taken five wickets in the Mumbai innings, ran out of partners before being the last man out for an attacking 73 in 137 balls with 9 fours and one six. Pandya, who came to the crease when Baroda were 307 for three, departed caught behind to end the visitors’ innings at 436.

He had a respite earlier when he was bowled off a no-ball. In the remaining time Mumbai were rocked by Pandya’s two-wicket burst and were tottering at 20 for 2 at close, an overall lead of 49.

The day started with Baroda on a solid 244 for 1 with Waghmode on 87 and Solanki on 128. Solanki fell to the first ball of the 11thover of the morning for 133 to left arm medium pacer Roystan Dias after Waghmode, who was finally out for 114, had reached the three-figure mark. Dias later sent back Waghmode too to leave Baroda on 307 for three.

Gill’s stunning double ton

A late strike by Sandeep Sharma gave Punjab the advantage on Sunday against Tamil Nadu at the end of day three.

Faced with a massive deficit of 264 runs, Abhinav Mukund was dismissed by Sandeep Sharma for 74 (141 balls, 9 fours) towards close of play to leave Tamil Nadu at 166 for 3. Earlier, Punjab were bowled out for 479 in response to Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 215, built around young Shubman Gill’s brilliant knock of 268 (328 balls, 29x4, 4x6).

The home side appeared on track for a huge total as Gill, resuming on his overnight score of 199, continued to bat with ease. Though he lost skipper Mandeep Singh (50) early in the day, he found an able ally in the experienced Yuvraj Singh (41, 34 balls, 8X4) and added 61 runs at a fast clip.

Yuvraj, however, was unlucky as he was run out backing up too far when Gill’s straight drive was deflected off K Vignesh’s hand on to the stumps to leave him stranded. Later, Gill was involved in another useful partnership of 83 runs with Gurkeerat Mann (48).

Lanky left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore’s six-wicket haul was largely responsible in restricting Punjab as he triggered a collapse after lunch. From 462 for 5, the home team slid to 479 all out in 118.5 overs with Kishore taking the wickets of Mann and Gill, stumped by Dinesh Karthik when he stepped out for a big shot.

Rajasthan best Odisha by 35 runs

Rajasthan pacers yet again produced a stellar performance as the visitors defeated Odisha by 35 runs.

Rajasthan bundled out Odisha for 137 in their second essay with pacer Aniket Choudhary (5-25) taking his second five wicket haul of the match to help the visitors script a memorable winin a low-scoring clash.

The momentum swung back and forth throughout the game but Rajasthan held their nerves in the end to emerge triumphant. Choudhary, who had figures of 5-49 in the first innings, was ably supported by pacers TH Haq (3-39) and Nathu Singh (2-43) in the second innings.

For Odisha, no 8 Suryakant Pradhan raised the hopes of a win with his quick-fire 56 off 33 balls but after his dismissal it was all over bar the shouting for the hosts. For the hosts, Subranshu Senapati (36) and Debasish Samantray (21) played handy knocks but failed to take the side home.

Saxena puts Uttarakhand on top

Vineet Saxena missed out on a double century by 15 runs but his knock ensured Uttarakhand put up a massive 557 against Nagaland to keep them firmly in sight of a sixth win on the trot.

At the close of play on the penultimate day, Nagaland were 182/4 trailing by 168 runs with opener Sedezhalie Rupero (85), and middler-order batsman KB Pawan (46) putting up a valiant fight. Captain Rongsen Jonathan (23) and Abrar Kazi (7) were at the crease as the group leaders were six wickets shy of their sixth successive win.

Opener Saxena was looking all set to score a double-hundred but Arbar Kazi trapped him leg before as he departed for 185 from 384 balls (19x4) earlier in the day. The hosts had added four runs to their overnight total of 371 when Saurabh Rawat (42) departed but no 9 Mayank Mishra struck a quickfire 58 in as many balls (5x4, 3x6) to prop their total.

In Jorhat, Taruwar Kohli starred with both bat and ball, waging a lone battle for Mizoram, even as Sikkim are closing in on a third win. Having bagged a 5/39 to help Mizoram bundle out Sikkim for 169 in their second essay, Taruwar remained unbeaten on 105 from 179 balls (13x4) to keep their hopes alive.