Powar helps Mumbai tighten grip

Defending champions Mumbai's ship continued to cruise towards the Ranji Trophy semi-finals on a day of smooth sailing in Rohtak. Led by their veteran spinner Ramesh Powar they dismantled Haryana for the addition of only 130 runs on day three, and by stumps - despite the loss of three wickets - sat pretty with a big lead. Haryana, from 34 for 2, struggled to form partnerships. Manav Sharma fell 76 deliveries into the day, bowled by Powar, to cue a period where three wickets went down for two runs in four overs. Rahul Dewan held up one end with 71 but a lack of support told against Powar, who returned figures of 4 for 42 from his 22 overs.

After Mumbai took a 236-run lead, Sahil Kukreja lost his opening partner Sushant Marathe for 0, but a century stand with Rohit Sharma put the second innings on track. Rohit, a day after he was recalled to India's ODI squad for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, fell for a brisk 51 and Vinayak Samant followed for 0. But with a lead of 355, Mumbai remain in command.

The proceedings on day three at the Palam A Ground have nicely set up the final one. An interesting battle for the first-innings lead, which will determine which team will move to the semi-finals, awaits. Delhi came into the third day facing a stiff uphill battle and applied themselves watchfully. They added 225 runs in 89.1 overs, losing only two wickets. The overnight pair of Aditya Jain and Mithun Manhas scored half-centuries at contrasting rates. The pair had teamed up on the second evening at 33 for 2 and attempted to stave off whatever came their way. Manhas was more aggressive, hitting 76 from 122 deliveries; Jain ate up 259 for his 76.

Rajat Bhatia, Delhi's captain, walked out needing to keep the side floating and did so commendably. He remained not out on 67 from 176 balls and denied Tamil Nadu further success with an alliance of 60 with Gaurav Chabra (32*). Aushik Srinivas bowled tidily for figures of 26-11-43-1 and Abhinav Mukund proved a partnership-breaker when he got Jain lbw in a four-over burst. Delhi are three sizeable partnerships away from achieving a lead, while Tamil Nadu need six quick wickets.

Uttar Pradesh stand in a healthy position after three days in Guwahati. Having already taken a first-innings lead, they put themselves in prime position to wrap up a win over Assam on the final day. From 25 for 0 they finished the day nine wickets down with a lead of 320, with Tanmay Srivastava (49) and Piyush Chawla (53) providing the impetus. UP lost Shivakant Shukla and their captain Mohammad Kaif early in the day, and then three further wickets after the before and after the century mark. But Rohit Prakash Srivastava (42) and Chawla put on 66 to get UP past 200 and Chawla found some support with the last two before he fell for a half-century. Leading Assam's bowling were Ranjitkumar Mali and Dhiraj Goswami with four wickets each. Given how meekly Assam folded in their first innings, UP will fancy their chances of wrapping up a win.

Click here to read Sriram Veera's report from the other quarter-final in Mysore.