Mumbai, Nov 19: Mumbai were floundering on 354 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of Day 3 of their Elite Ranji encounter against Karnataka. When play was called off, Onkar Gurav was unbeaten on 20 runs here at the Brabourne Stadium.

Karnataka started the day on a high with the big wicket of Mumbai opener Ajinkya Rahane in the third over of the morning. Skipper Vinay Kumar removed Rahane for 24 as the ball took the outside edge and landed safely in the hands of KB Pawan in gully.

With only 50 runs on the board and both the openers back in the dressing room, Mumbai found themselves in situation similar to the one against Rajasthan in the previous match. Although they bat deep this time around, they are chasing 100-odd runs more than they had chased against Rajasthan.

It was again left to Abhishek Nayar and Rohit Sharma to rescue the hosts but unlike in his previous two innings, the latter departed before reaching the three-figure mark. Sharma, selected in the Indian squad for the third Test against the West Indies, hit nine fours and a six and was scoring fluently until Abhimanyu Mithun bowled him for 64 in the last over before lunch. Suryakumar Yadav too disappointed with the bat and was the next to walk back to the pavilion. Hitting straight into the hands of Amit Verma in the covers off Stuart Binny, Yadav departed for 23 runs.

Mumbai’s woes continued as Nayar (137, 18X4) retired hurt one ball after tea. The No. 3 batsman, who is a vital cog in the Mumbai line-up, has come back after surgeries to his right wrist and right ankle.

A little while later, Ramesh Powar who had come to the crease at the fall of Yadav’s wicket, was trapped lbw by Binny for 26. With half the side back in the dressing room and Nayar retired hurt, Mumbai were left struggling at 301 for the loss of five wickets. Karnataka then took the new ball in the 81st over and skipper Vinay Kumar castled Iqbal in the 83rd over. A few overs later Mithun bowled Ajit Agarkar (13) and Onkar Gurav joined Dhawal Kulkarni in the middle. Kulkarni was the last batsman to be dismissed at the end of the day by Binny.

The visitors are in the driver’s seat while the hosts have their work cut out with a day remaining in the match.

Brief score: ELITE A - Mumbai vs. Karnataka at Mumbai: Mumbai 354-8 after 94.3 overs (A Nayar 137, R Sharma 64; SR Binny 3-27, R Vinay Kumar 3-79) vs. Karnataka 635-9 in 165.2 overs

Other highlights of the day: Hosts Punjab are on the verge of suffering a humiliating defeat to Saurashtra in their Elite – Group A encounter. After allowing Saurashtra to post a mammoth score of 542 in their first innings, Punjab crashed to 278 all out in their first innings. Saurashtra pacer Jaidev Unadkat took six for 87 as the hosts conceded a 264-run lead to the visitors. To make matters worse for Punjab, Saurashtra’s medium pacer Sandip Maniar took three top-order wickets in Punjab’s second innings to reduce the hosts to 44 for four after the latter had been asked to follow on.

Brief score: ELITE A - Punjab vs. Saurashtra at Mohali: Punjab 278 all out (M Singh 85, A Singh 64; J Unadkat 6-87) & 44-4 after 21.0 overs (M Vohra 13; SM Maniar 3-14). Saurashtra 542-all out in 162.4 overs

Other brief scores at the end of Day 3:

ELITE A - Rajasthan vs. Railways at Delhi: Railways 274-4 after 93.0 overs (SS Shukla 87, SB Bangar 79; V Yadav 3-64) vs. Rajasthan 521-8d in 172.0 overs

ELITE A - Orissa vs. UP at Bhubaneswar: UP 287-3 after 111.0 overs (TM Srivastav 115, M Kaif 88) vs. Orissa 482-all out in 160.3 overs

ELITE B - Bengal vs. MP at Kolkata: MP 344-3 after 108.0 overs (MD Mishra 130*, NV Ojha 127) vs. Bengal 496-all out

ELITE B - Baroda vs. Haryana at Baroda: Haryana 390 & 187-7 after 58.0 overs (AA Khod 71, S Singh 46; S Singh 4-29) vs. Baroda 214-all out in 65.5 overs (RK Solanki 52, AA Waghmode 51)

ELITE B - Delhi vs. Tamil Nadu at Delhi: Delhi 212 & 233-5 after 72.0 overs (M Kumar 58, Y Nagar 56) vs. Tamil Nadu 306-all out

PLATE A - SSCB vs. Vidarbha at Delhi (Palam): SSCB 238-8 after 90.0 overs (J Singh 74,SM Swain 70) vs. Vidarbha 508-6 decl.

PLATE A - Andhra vs. Himachal at Vijayawada: Andhra 265 & 176-4 after 53.0 overs (G Shankara Rao 96, Y Venugopal Rao 39) vs. Himachal 341-all out in 111.3 overs

PLATE A - Kerala vs. Tripura at Kochi: Kerala won by an innings & 53 runs. Tripura 139 & 124-all out in 57.1 overs (KK Acharjee 47; SK Cheruvathur 3-23, P Parameswaran 3-28) vs. Kerala 316-all out (SK Cheruvathur 77, JV Arundhadi 57; UB Patel 5-75)

PLATE B - Assam vs. Hyderabad at Guwahati: Assam 227 & 0-1 after 4.4 overs vs. Hyderabad 474-6d in 143.0 overs (AR Produturi 112, AQ Syed 107)

PLATE B - Maharashtra vs. Jharkhand at Nashik: Jharkhand 283 & 218-6 after 64.0 overs (MS Vardhan 88, SP Gautam 39; DJ Muthuswami 3-17) vs. Maharashtra 460-all out

PLATE B - J&K vs. Goa at Jammu: Goa 281 & 376-9 after 100.0 overs (SS Yadav 118, RJ Pinto 64; Ram Dayal 3-76) vs. J&K 260-all out in 74.2 overs