Ranji Trophy: Himachal Pradesh Continue Uttarakhand''s Domination Despite Avneesh Sudha's 96

Himachal Pradesh bundled out Uttarakhand for 299 to take a massive 364-run first innings lead and enforced a follow-on on the visitors, targeting an outright victory in their Ranji Trophy Group B match, on Sunday. Like the first two days, the third day also belonged to the home team that had put on board a massive 663 for six declared in their first essay in which four of their batters scored centuries. Resuming at 50 for one, Uttarakhand resisted through overnight batter Avneesh Sudha (95), who missed out on his century but helped his team concede a lesser lead.

Following on, Uttarakhand faced only one over in their second innings and are yet to open their account. They need bat thorough the day to salvage draw.

Had it not been for Sudha's fighting knock and contributions from Vaibhav Bhatt (46) and Kunal Chandela (56), Uttarakahnad would have been in a worse situation.

Sudha hit 12 hours in his 171-ball dogged knock.

Swapnil Singh (22) and Aditya Tare (14) got the starts but didn't last long.

Pacer Divesh Sharma (3/47) was the most successful bowler for the hosts with his three-wicket haul while Arpit Guleria (2/36), Vaibhav Arora (2/54) and Mayank Dagar (2/65) took two wickets apiece.

Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 663/3 dec in 164 overs Uttarakhand 1st innings: 299 all out in 95 overs and 0/0 in 1 over.

(Avneesh Sudha 94 batting; Vaibhav Arora 1/21).

Other Group B matches: *In Secunderabad: Gujarat 1st innings: 343 and 201 Hyderabad: 248.

In Jaipur: Puducherry 1st innings: 248 and 207/6; Rajasthan 1st innings: 291.

In Nagpur: Vidarbha: 118 and 366; Andhra: 167 and 79/1 in 21 overs.