9.15am Are we in for a potentially tasty day four? Vidarbha are psychologically ahead after a 37-run first-innings lead, but the ball was turning last night, and there are plenty of footmarks for the spinners to exploit. And hence, little surprise that Harsh Dubey was one of Vidarbha's stars last evening against Kerala, who, in their maiden Ranji final, will hope the ball - and with it, the match - turns in their favour.
END OF OVER:125 | 4 Runs 1 Wkt | KER: 342/10
- Nedumankuzhy Basil0 (6b)
- Parth Rekhade30-7-65-3
- Harsh Dubey44-11-88-3
5pm What a day of cricket in Nagpur! The hosts finish just slightly ahead, although with the way the ball has started to turn, the first-innings lead might not be enough and Vidarbha know they need to bat really well in their second dig. Aditya Sarwate added 13 to his overnight score to finish on 79, and then Sachin Baby stood tall for Kerala, with cameos from Azharuddeen and Jalaj Saxena providing support. But a lot of talk will be on how Baby, on 98 off 234 balls, decided to go for a slog sweep and picked out the only fielder in the deep. After that, it was mostly downhill for Kerala, with Saxena going into a shell before missing an attempted paddle sweep. Harsh Dubey, who struck twice in the morning session to account for Sarwate and Salman Nizar, got his third to also become the highest wicket-taker in a single season of the Ranji Trophy, going past Bihar's Ashutosh Aman, who got 68 wickets in the 2018-19 season. Darshan Nalkande also got an important wicket, trapping Azharuddeen in front with the second new ball. All this sets us up for an exciting final two days. Shashank's report will be in soon, so you can get a better recap of today's play there. And do join us tomorrow for the fourth day of this thrilling final. On behalf of Shashank, Chetan and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo, this is Abhimanyu signing off.
Sreejo: "Both Afghanistan captain and Kerala captain throwing their wickets to give advantage to opposition. Captains day out!"
Shadow-Shell: "2 days remaining. 1 day to get them all out. 1 day to chase it down. Come on Kerala, it's not all over"
Eden Apple Tom b Rekhade 10 (52b 1x4 0x6) SR: 19.23
END OF OVER:124 | (maiden) | KER: 338/9
- Nedumankuzhy Basil0 (6b)
- Eden Apple Tom6 (46b)
- Harsh Dubey44-11-88-3
- Parth Rekhade29-7-61-2
Mahesh: "It's not over yet for Kerala.. The lead is not much if they can get Vidarbha out cheaply in 2nd innings..You never know. as 2 ful days left… An optimistic Kerala guy from UK.."
Lokesh: "The batters should swing for the hills now. No point in blocking if one ball will eventually get you."
END OF OVER:123 | (maiden) | KER: 338/9
- Eden Apple Tom6 (46b)
- Nedumankuzhy Basil0 (0b)
- Parth Rekhade29-7-61-2
- Harsh Dubey43-10-88-3
Pratyush: "Kerala put on 81 runs for the last wicket to secure a 1 run lead against J"
