Saurashtra consolidated their position at the top the table with an innings win against Jammu and Kashmir to seal a spot in the knockouts on the penultimate day of the last round of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 league phase. While Himachal are currently holding the second spot after their win on Day 2, their position will be depend on result of Jharkhand’s ongoing game against Hyderabad. Here’s what happened on Day 3, Round 9: Hyderabad vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand 388/8 decl (S Tiwary 209*, Kaushal Singh 54, CV Milind 3/77, R Kiran 3/94); Hyd 2nd inn 169/6 (B Sandeep 58, GH Vihari 32, R Shukla 2/28, S Nadeem 2/65) Trail by 74 runs. Jharkhand, who were ahead of Himachal Pradesh on net run-rate would be level on points with the team, who posted a win on Day 2 if they beat Hyderabad. In pursuit of victory, Jharkhand powered by Saurabh Tiwary's unbeaten 209 declared their innings with a 243-run first innings lead. The Hyderabad middle-order then helped the hosts to narrow the deficit through the day and were trailing by 74 runs with six wickets in hand. Rahul Shukla and Shahbaz Nadeem picked two wickets each as the visitors looked to bowl the hosts out a second time. They will have to bowl the home team out early on the final day to give themselves a chance to win the game. J & K vs Saurashtra: Sau 1st inn 497/10 (J Unadkat 92, Md Mudhasir 1/68); J & K 2nd inn 296/10 (I Chauhan 127, K Makwana 7/100) Saurashtra win by innings and 63 runs. Earlier in the day, Jaydev Undakat was sent back by Mohammed Mudhasir for the addition of one run to his overnight score to bring curtains down on the Saurashtra innings. Kamlesh Makwana then bowled the visitors to an innings win with a seven-wicket haul in Jammu. J & K's top-order batsman Ian Chauhan (127) scored his 12th first-class century as he put up a fight to keep the innings afloat, but continued to lose partners at regular intervals as the off-spinner-led attack struck at regular intervals. The Jaydev Shah-led team have finished the league phase with five victories in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season and have qualified for the knockout stage.

Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh: HP won by 6 wickets. Tripura vs Services: Tripura 1st inn 229/10 (S Das 53, D Pathania 3/49, A Gupta 2/11); F/o Tripura 2nd inn 9/0 (V Awate 3*, A Das 2*) Trail by 274 runs The Diwesh Pathania-led attack bowled Tripura out for 229 and enforced follow on as they look to finish the season on a winning note. The pacer claimed three of the top five batsmen and ran opener Arindam Das out to leave the hosts on 75 for five. However, Saurabh Das (53) and R Banik (46) showed some resistance in an effort to keep the innings afloat. While P Poonia trapped Banik lbw, Anshul Gupta and Khalid Ahmed picked two wickets each to bowl Tripura out. The Tripura openers were still at the crease in the second innings when play ended for the day.