Jaiswal, Jaffer hundreds derail UP

Alur: A dominant Mumbai rode on impressive hundreds from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Armaan Jaffer to put Uttar Pradesh on the back-foot by taking their overall lead past the 600-mark on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final here on Friday. It was a run-feast on day four as the two batted with authority and it is almost certain now that the 41-time Ranji Trophy winners would sail into the summit clash.

The Amol Mazumdar coached side, in their second essay, was poised at 449 for four when stumps were drawn and had an overall lead of staggering 662 runs. Jaiswal (181), who has hit his maiden hundred in the quarter-final, slammed back-to-back centuries in the current one, as he and Jaffer (127), bulldozed a list-less Uttar Pradesh attack.Mumbai, which already had a lead of 346 runs, began on their overnight score of 133 for one. And it was sheer dominance by their young batting duo of Jaiswal and Jaffer, who would surely have made his uncle Wasim proud, by his stellar performance.

The wide gulf between the two sides was on display. UP used as many as nine bowlers, but managed to get only three wickets in the day.Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (1/105) had the most expensive figures as he was taken to task by Jaffer and Jaiswal.

At stumps, Sarfaraz Khan (23 not out) and Shams Mulani (10 not out) were holding fort. The only interest left on the fifth and final day is to see if Mumbai win outright or go through on the basis of firstinnings lead.

Brief scores: Mumbai 393 (Hardik Tamore 115*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 100; Karan Sharma 4-46) & 449/4 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 181, Armaan Jaffer 127) lead Uttar Pradesh 180 (Shivam Mavi 48; Tushar Deshpande 3-34) by 662 runs

MP firm favourites to reach final

Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran’s unbeaten 52 after Shahbaz Ahmed’s superb all-round show gave Bengal a glimmer of hope even as Madhya Pradesh firmly held the upper-hand on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final here on Friday.

On a difficult fourth day pitch, the India A batter looked flawless and milked the field at ease, slamming six fours in his 104-ball knock as Bengal were precariously placed at 96 for 4, needing another 254 runs to reach the stiff winning target of 350.

Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, need six wickets in pursuit of their first Ranji final after 23 years as the match is headed for a thrilling final day finish here on Saturday.Mumbai Indians’ leftarm spinner Kumar Kartikeya did the maximum damage for Madhya Pradesh.

Earlier, it was Shahbaz Ahmed who did a star all-rounder act and became the fifth from Bengal to score a century as well as take a fifer in the same match for Bengal. Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrates after completing his second century of the match.

Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 341 (Himanshu Mantri 165, Akshat Raghuvanshi 63; Mukesh Kumar 4-66) & 281 ( Aditya Shrivastava, 82, Rajat Patidar 79; Shahbaz Ahmed 5-79) lead Bengal 273 (Shahbaz Ahmed 116, Manoj Tiwary 102; Puneet Datey 3-48) and 96/4 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 52*; Kumar Kartikeya 3-35) by 253 runs.