Karnataka and Baroda claim victories

Karnataka 371 and 252 for 4 beat Haryana 258 and 112 (Joshi 4-22) by 253 runs
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Left-arm spinners Sunil Joshi, with Test and ODI experience, and rookie KP Appanna, playing his second first-class game, spun Haryana out for 112 to hand Karnataka a 253-run victory at Mysore. Resuming the final day on 34 for 5, Haryana were always under the gun, and Joshi (4 for 22) and Appanna (3 for 33) never allowed them the room to breathe. Only Shafiq Khan (18), Joginder Sharma (20) and Amit Mishra (22) made it to double figures as both spinners kept plugging away. Karnataka took away four points from this outright win, and take on Uttar Pradesh from Saturday, December 9, at Kanpur.

Baroda 406 beat Saurashtra 255 and 132 (Patel 3-59, Pawar 3-27) by an innings and 19 runs
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Rajesh Pawar, Baroda's left-arm spinner, backed his first-innings four wickets with three in the second as Saurashtra, forced to follow on, were bowled out for 132 to stumble to an innings-and-19-run loss against Baroda at Rajkot. Pawar received good support from Rakesh Patel (3 for 59), Irfan Safi Pathan (2 for 21) and Ajit Bhoite (2 for 3) as Baroda swept five points from their victory. Saurashtra failed to better their first-innings 255, where three batsmen crossed fifty, with a dismal showing on the final day.

Tamil Nadu 474 for 9 dec (Vijay 179, Badrinath 69, Sharath 53) drew with Andhra 155 and 327 for 8 (Venugopal 105*, Prasad 55)
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An unbeaten 105 by Venugopal Rao saved Andhra Pradesh the blushes as they managed to hang on a force a draw against Tamil Nadu at Chennai. Trailing 319 in the first innings, Andhra were forced to follow on, but Venugopal's century and a useful 55 by Chandramouli Prasad helped Andhra end the day on 327 for 8. Andhra were in dire trouble when they lost half their side with only 152 on the board, but Venugopal and Prasad then added 102 for the sixth wicket. Tamil Nadu continued to nail crucial blows at the other end, but they couldn't remove Venugopal, who got excellent support from Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna, the No.10 batsman. Kalyankrishna made only 1, but he played out 39 deliveries and survived more than 14 overs, as Tamil Nadu had to finally settle for first-innings points.

Bengal 578 for 7 dec (Tiwary 210*) drew with Mumbai 372 (Thakkar 157, Bose 5-69) and 23 without loss
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Ranadeb Bose, the right-arm fast bowler, turned in an inspired bowling performance as Bengal took the first-innings points in a drawn game against Mumbai at Eden Gardens. Resuming at 206 for 2, Mumbai were bundled out for 372, with Bose returning superb figures of 5 for 69 from 34.1 overs. Bhavin Thakkar had led the way for Mumbai on the third day with an unbeaten 108, but he fell for 157 while Amol Muzumdar, the captain, made 39. Both were dismissed by Bose, who then went on to finish off the tail as none of the other Mumbai batsmen managed to go past 30. Mumbai finally fell 206 runs short of Bengal's 578, and, following on, were 23 without loss when play was called off.

Hyderabad 385 and 279 for 4 (Rayudu 110*, Teja 99) drew with Rajasthan 353 (Ojha 7-114)
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A seven-wicket haul from Pragyan Ojha, the chinaman bowler, enabled Hyderabad to gain a first-innings lead before Ambati Rayudu and Ravi Teja gained some batting practice as the match at Jaipur petered out to a draw. Ojha picked up the last two Rajasthan wickets early this morning, ensuring two points for Hyderabad, and the batsmen cashed in on a dead match. Teja missed out on a hundred for the second time in as many games but Rayudu stayed unbeaten on a fine 110, composed of 13 fours and one six. It capped a good start to the season for Hyderabad with four points from two games.

Gujarat 208 and 125 for 2 (Modi 52) drew with Punjab 503 for 9 dec
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Bad light at Mohali meant only 11.3 overs of play was possible as Punjab were thwarted in their bid for an outright win. Instead Gujarat moved from 86 for 1 to 125 for 2, with Nilesh Modi bringing up a half-century. Punjab, who racked up a mammoth 503 for 9 in their first innings, had to settle for two points from the encounter. Having lost the first game to Bengal, Punjab have a lot of work to do in their next few games.

Delhi 299 and 165 for 3 (Chopra 68*) drew with Uttar Pradesh 287 (Srivastava 73, Kumar 66, Chawla 61, Nehra 5-105)
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Heavy fog and bad light ensured that not a single ball was bowled on the last day of the match between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi thus took home two points after managing a slender 12-run first innings lead, with the match being an especially memorable one for Aakash Chopra, the former Test opener, whose match aggregate of 218 was nearly half the total runs scored by Delhi.