In Alur, Bengaluru Saurashtra set Delhi a tall target of 322 to win. Delhi’s batters rose to the challenge, completing a three-wicket win. Skipper Shardul Thakur claimed a four-wicket haul and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani scalped five as Mumbai had it easy against Chhattisgarh.

Dhruv Jurel’s 160 and skipper Rinku Singh’s 63 for Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra pacer Ramakrishna Ghosh’s seven-for were among the other highlights of the Elite League matches in the third round of games.

After Saurashtra made a challenging 320/7 in 50 overs following opener Vishvarajsinh Jadeja’s 115 (104b) and Ruchit Ahir’s unbeaten 95 (65b), Delhi’s batters had a mountain to climb. It was their real test in the tournament as they were without Kohli, who played a stellar role in Delhi winning the first two games, with a hundred and an unbeaten fifty. Kohli is set to rejoin the team on January 6 for the match against Railways at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru.

Opener Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya made aggressive fifties as Delhi’s batting rose to the challenge at Alur 2. Arya (78 – 45b) and Dahiya (53- 51b) did the heavy lifting before they completed the chase in 48.5 overs. Skipper Rishabh Pant fell for a 26-ball 22, caught by Jay Gohil off Chirag Jani. When Dahiya fell off the bowling of Ankur Pawar, Delhi still needed 73 runs in 12 overs with four wickets in hand. But Harsh Tyagi (49 – 45b) and Navdeep Saini (34*) helped complete with a 69-run seventh wicket partnership.

SHARDUL, SHAMS SHINE

In their Group C match against Chhattisgarh, Shardul Thakur produced an inspired spell to help Mumbai take control of the game early after electing to bowl. Chhattisgarh’s innings got off to a disastrous start, losing four wickets for just 10 runs with Thakur claiming all four.

Skipper Amandeep Khare came up with a fighting 63 and Ajay Mandal scored 46. The pair shared 105-run partnership and helped Chhattisgarh avert a total collapse. However, once Musheer Khan broke the partnership, Mulani ran through the lower-order to bowl out Chhattisgarh for 142 in 38.1 overs.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 68 (66b) and Siddhesh Lad 48 (42b) to help Mumbai finish the match in just 24 overs. Mumbai lead Group C after the third win in a row.

Jurel scored an unbeaten 160 (101b) to help UP post a massive 369/7 in their 50 overs and secure a facile 54-run win against Baroda.

Madhya Pradesh defended a total of 214 against Kerala. Spin trio of Saransh Jain, Shubham Sharma and Shivang Kumar combined to skittle Kerala for 167.

Bengal opener Abishek Porel struck 106 to help his side chase down Chandigarh’s total of 318, claiming a six-wicket win with 14 balls to spare. Vidarbha aced a 312-run chase against Jammu & Kashmir with five wickets to spare. Opener Aman Mokhade (139 – 125b) and middle-order batter Ravikumar Samarth (114 – 108b) scored centuries.