Baroda, Nov. 5: Delhi tightened their grip over Baroda on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B tie here on Thursday, reducing the hosts to 319/8 at stumps. The visitors posted a massive 591 and are just two wickets away from securing the crucial first innings lead.

Pinal Shah top-scored for the home side with 63 but pacemen Sumit Narwal (3/70) and Parvinder Awana (2/64) put the brakes on their progress. Baroda were left to rue the fact that six of their batsmen crossed the 30-run mark but no one went on to a bigger score.

In Chandigarh, Mumbai began day three needing 15 runs to take the first-innings lead against Punjab in their Group A tie with only three wickets in hand. They went on to post a 212-run lead thanks to off-spinner Ramesh Powar’s unbeaten 125.

Onkar Khanvilkar scored 87 and stitched a 163-run partnership for the eighth wicket as Mumbai posted 471/9 in reply to Punjab’s 259. Zaheer Khan picked up the wicket of opener Sunny Sohal as Punjab ended the day on 55/1.

In Delhi, S. Badrinath’s 111 guided Tamil Nadu to 312/8, just 15 runs adrift of Railways’ first innings tally in their Group A match at the Karnail Singh Stadium.

After opener, Murali Vijay departed without any addition to his overnight score of 65, Badrinath hammered two sixes and seven fours in his 338-ball knock to keep his team in the hunt for first innings points. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/89 in 45 overs.

In Meerut, Rahul Dravid struck an unbeaten 44-ball 51 while openers K.B. Pawan and Robin Uthappa hammered 78 and 56 respectively as Karnataka set Uttar Pradesh an unlikely 438 runs to win the Group B match.

In reply to Karnataka’s first innings total of 405, UP began the day at 214/8 and collapsed to 279, a total made possible by the spectacular rearguard defiance by Amir Khan (61) and their number nine batsman Praveen Gupta (55 n.o.). UP lost opener Tanmay Srivastava (12) to reach 29/1 when stumps were drawn.

In Pune, opener Harshad Khadiwale hammered 114 to wipe out Bengal’s 146-run first innings lead as Maharashtra reached 305/7 in their second essay of the Group B match.

Starting the day on 46/0, the home side were led by skipper Khadiwale’s 146-ball knock and received good support from Rohit Motwani (59). For Bengal, off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri picked up 4/87 while pacer Ranadeb Bose snared 3/47.

In Ahmedabad, Orissa were 10/1 needing another 370 more runs to beat Gujarat in their Super League Group A match at stumps on day three. After securing a 78-run first innings lead, the hosts declared their second innings at 301/5 with Niraj Patel scoring a 188-ball 107.

— Agencies