Karnataka lead Chhattisgarh by 248 runs

Captain Manish Pandey led the way with an unbeaten half-century as Karnataka extended their lead to 248 runs against Chhattisgarh in a Group A Ranji Trophy match here Tuesday.

When the stumps were drawn on the third day, Karnataka were 113 for four in their second innings with Pandey and Shreyas Gopal batting on 57 and 21 runs, respectively.

They stitched a crucial unbeaten 63-run partnership for the fifth wicket, after the hosts were struggling at 50 for four in their second innings.

Chhattisgarh seamer Pankaj Rao, who had bagged seven wickets in the first innings, dismissed three Karnataka batsmen in their second innings.

Karnataka were bowled out for 418 in their first innings, with opener Dega Nischal and Krishnamurthy Siddharth scoring centuries.

Earlier, Karnataka bundled out Chhattisgarh for 283. Ronit More and Abhimanyu Mithun returned figures of five for 48 and four for 64, respectively.

The only batsman who shone for Chhattisgarh was Harpreet Singh, who cracked a determined 120 runs off 239 balls with 17 boundaries.

Amandeep Khare (45) and Ajay Jadhav Mandal (41) were the other handy contributors.

Resuming at overnight 121 for three, Chhattisgarh lost Amadeep Khare after he added two runs to his overnight 43 runs.

Khare was caught by Srinivas Sharath off Mithun, who bagged his fourth wicket.

Ashutosh Singh and Harpreet, who was unbeaten on 53 Monday evening, added 24 runs for the fifth wicket before the former was trapped leg before wicket by More.

Harpreet stayed on the wicket and stitched a couple of crucial partnerships for the sixth and seventh wicket, taking Chhattisgarh to 266 for seven.

Brief scores: