A total of three matches came to a conclusion during the third day of the Ranji Trophy 2025/26 season. The trio of Bihar, Vidarbha and Haryana made a strong start to their respective campaigns and recorded wins over Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Railways respectively.
Dominant victories for three teams
Firstly, Bihar went on to decimate their opponents by an innings and 165 runs in what was a completely one-sided affair. Arunachal Pradesh could only manage to put up a total of 108 in the first innings and in reply, Bihar went on to post 542 runs on the board. Ayush Loharuka scored a remarkable double-century and the likes of Arnav Kishor, Sakibul Gani, Bipin Saurabh and Sachin Kumar scored valiant half-centuries as Bihar took a huge lead of 437 runs. In their second innings, Arunachal Pradesh got bundled out for 272 runs thanks to a fiery bowling display as the match came to a conclusion in under three days.
On the other hand, defending champions Vidarbha got their title defense off to a positive start and defeated Nagaland comprehensively by an innings and 179 runs. Aman Mokhade's magnificent knock of 183 carried Vidarbha to a massive first-inning total of 463. In reply, Nagaland got bundled out for just 171 runs as pacer Nachike Bhute took an impressive 5-fer. The second innings proved to be even worse for Nagaland as they could only manage to score 113 runs before being bowled out. Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey racked up four scalps and helped Vidarbha conclude the match within three days.
Haryana also got their tournament off to a great start and defeated Railways by 96 runs in what was quite a low-scoring encounter.After being bundled out for 171 in their first innings, Haryana managed to take a slender 43-run lead as Railways collapsed for only 128. Haryana scored 205 runs in their second innings and handed a target of 249 to Railways. A stellar bowling effort by Nikhil Kashyap (5/53) and Nishant Sindhu (4/35) helped Haryana bowl out the opposition for just 152 and script a stunning victory.
Badoni takes incredible fifer
Other notable performances from Day 3 include Delhi captain Ayush Badoni's fiery five-wicket haul against Hyderabad. Badoni, who is generally known to contribute with the bat, ended up being a surprise package and even dismissed Tilak Varma for a duck. His spell of 5/69 ensured that Hyderbad trailed Delhi by 129 runs heading into Day 4.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand pacer Devendra Singh Bora racked up six wickets against Bengal as the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side got bowled out for 323 runs in their first innings. Uttarakhand finished Day 3 on 165/2, leading the opposition by a 55-run margin. Finally, Jharkhand pacer Jatin Pandey also picked up an excellent five-wicket haul that saw Tamil Nadu get bundled out for just 83 runs in their first innings. Jharkhand ended Day 3 on a high and restricted the opposition to 52/3 and now need 7 wickets more to win the match. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu still need to score 274 runs in order to take the lead in the match.