Vihari double-ton puts Andhra in command

Hanuma Vihari scored his fourth first-class double-hundred as Andhra took comprehensive strides towards an outright win against Tripura in Valsad. Vihari went from an overnight 144 to an unbeaten 233 (482b, 17x4, 4x6) as Andhra declared on 524 for 5, having established a first-innings lead of 353.

Bowling 47 overs, the left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh finished as Tripura's most successful bowler, with figures of 4 for 166. With 42 overs left to bat out before stumps, Tripura lost three wickets, ending the day 165 for 3, still trailing by 188, with Yashpal Singh, their experienced import from Services, batting on 46.

Half-centuries from Bipul Sharma and Sumeet Verma gave Himachal Pradesh a 76-run first-innings lead in a closely contested match against Chhattisgarh in Kanpur. Both teams ended day three with a chance of winning outright, with Chhattisgarh 175 for 4 and 99 ahead, courtesy an unbeaten 69 (156b, 7x4, 1x6) from opener Abhimanyu Chauhan.

Himachal began the day trailing by 28 runs. Bipul scored 86 (179b, 4x4, 4x6) and Sumeet 68 (195b, 5x4, 2x6) as the pair stretched their overnight seventh-wicket stand of 60 to 130, before Himachal lost their last four wickets for 34 runs. Left-arm spinner Sumit Ruikar took two lower-order wickets to finish with figures of 7 for 112, his best in first-class cricket.

Seamers Vinod Kumar and Sandeep Warrier shared seven wickets between them to help Kerala take a 56-run first-innings lead against Goa at the Brabourne Stadium. Goa, six down and 173 behind at the start of the day, got as close as they did to Kerala's first-innings total thanks to Shadab Jakati's 85 (162b, 13x4) from No. 8.

Kerala stretched their lead to 210 by stumps, with Rohan Prem following up his first-innings century with an unbeaten 60 (128b, 7x4), and Mohammed Azharuddeen scoring 56 not out (101b, 7x4). The two came together after a three-wicket burst from Saurabh Bandekar had reduced Kerala to 54 for 4, and added an unbroken 100 for the fifth wicket. During the course of his innings - which was his fifth consecutive score of 60 or more - Prem went past Sunil Oasis to become Kerala's highest-ever run-getter.

A four-wicket haul from Sanjay Pahal helped Haryana enforce the follow-on against Jammu & Kashmir in Cuttack. Batting at No. 3, Pranav Gupta scored 94 (189b, 16x4), but J&K's batting fell apart around him as they were bowled out for 262 in their first innings, 89 short of avoiding the follow-on. Opener Shubham Khajuria, who resumed on 48, only added four runs to his score before falling in the eighth over of the morning. He had put on 89 for the second wicket with Pranav. The wickets fell steadily thereafter, with only a sixth-wicket partnership of 65 between Pranav and wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht resisting Haryana for any length of time. With 19 overs left at the end of the day, J&K went to stumps 38 for no loss in their second innings.

A century from Shamsher Yadav and a 90 from Nakul Verma helped Services defy Hyderabad at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, as they ended day three with reasonable hope of taking one point from a run-heavy game. Coming together at 116 for 3, after Services lost three wickets for the addition of only 39 to their overnight score, Shamsher and Nakul put on 84 before the latter fell for 90 off 178 balls (13x4). Even as wickets fell steadily around him, Shamsher remained at the crease through most of the rest of the day, before he was ninth out two overs from stumps for 104 (196b, 13x4, 1x6). Services were 360 for 9 at stumps, still in danger of following on, trailing Hyderabad by 220 runs, but with a fighting chance of saving the match. Seamer Ravi Kiran was Hyderabad's most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 68.