Chhattisgarh outshine Himachal

Chattisgarh registered their maiden win of the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season with a bonus point after thrashing Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 114 runs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium here on Saturday.

After Chhattisgarh posted 456 in their first innings to secure a 281-run lead, Himachal were bowled out for a meagre 167 in their second dig, thanks to seamer Shahnawaz Hussain's career-best haul of 6/53 on the penultimate day of the fifth round Group D clash.

In another match of the same Group, Goa secured a slender seven-run lead against the Services, thanks to a last-wicket stand of 27 between Keenan Vaz (70) and Heramb Parab (9) at the Palam ground in Delhi. At stumps, Services were 108/3 in their second innings.

In Group B, Gujarat rode on opener Priyank Panchal's crafty 145 and Rujul Bhatt's unbeaten 75 to post 304/4 in reply to Saurashtra's first innings total of 570 at Rajkot.

By the end of the day's play, Gujarat had brought the deficit down to 266 runs as the match headed towards a draw on the final day.

In another match, Haryana stretched their lead to 252 with five wickets in their kitty after bowling Rajasthan out for 150 in response to the host's first innings score of 223 at Rohtak. At stumps, the home side were 179/5 with Shivam Chauhan top-scoring with 65 runs.

In Jamshedpur, Jammu and Kashmir rode on captain Parvez Rasool (70) and Owais Amin Shah's (50) 119-run sixth-wicket stand to post 246/7 and extend their lead to 330 runs against Jharkhand.

In Group A, Uttar Pradesh took a 260-run lead in their second innings to end the penultimate day on 229/2 against Assam in Guwahati.

At stumps, opener Umang Sharma was unbeaten on 131 with Mohammed Saif (38 not out) in company as the match looks set to end in a draw.

In Alur, Delhi rode on veteran opener Gautam Gambhir's unbeaten 135 to post 277/4 in response to Karnataka's 649 as the tie is unlikely to produce any result on the final day.

The Railways posted 330/5 at the end of day three in response to hosts Maharashtra's 481 as the match looks heads towards a draw in Pune.