Hyderabad knock off Tripura in three days

Tripura remained rooted to the bottom of the points table after their third straight loss, this one by an innings and 35 runs to Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Tripura actually started the day brightly, dismissing the hosts' last six batsmen for 31 runs to limit their deficit to 172. That target, however, proved too be too much for a side that has only gone past 200 once this season, and they folded against the part-time legspin of Ravi Teja, who picked up career-best figures of 5 for 20. Biswajit Dey (31), and Timir Chandra (30*), were the only two batsmen to go past 20, as Tripura could only manage 137 in their second innings, giving Hyderabad their first win of the season.

Vaibhav Deshpande's maiden first-class hundred propelled Rajasthan to 523 against Madhya Pradhesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, before the visitors responded with an unbroken opening stand of 131 to reduce the deficit to 392. The 23-year-old Deshpande scored briskly, taking 191 balls for his 144, giving him a strike rate of 75.39, and striking 18 fours and a six. But he was overshadowed by Pankaj Singh, who made 70 from 65, with five fours and five sixes. The pair added 110 for seventh wicket to take Rajasthan past 400. Deshpande then added 81 with No. 11 Deepak Chahar, who made an unbeaten 22. Robin Bist missed out on his first hundred of the season, falling in the third over of the day without adding to this overnight 91. Medium-pacer Amit Sharma took 5 for 109. MP openers Naman Ojha (51), who played for the scrapped IPL team, Rajasthan Royals, and Jalaj Saxena (76) both made unbeaten half-centuries to, give their team a chance of hanging on for a point on the last day.

Jharkhand face a tough fight if they are to get something from their game against Goa in Porvorim, as they trail the hosts by 302 runs heading in to the final day. It could have been much worse for the visitors, who were tottering at 128 for 7, but the last three wickets added a further 139 runs. Varun Aaron, who was the last man out for 72, added 83 for the ninth wicket with Kuldeep Sharma, who made 30, to see Jharkhand safely past the 200 mark. Ishank Jaggi also chipped in with 50, while Shadab Jakati, the Chennai Super Kings left-arm spinner, led the bowlers with 4 for 77. Jharkhand were 14 for no loss in their second innings when play ended. A win for Goa would take them level with Jharkhand on seven points.

Karimuttathu Rakesh's unbeaten century gave Kerala control of their game against Vidarbha in Malappuram. Rakesh batted for over seven hours to make 101, his maiden first-class ton, and formed the backbone of his side's total of 366 for 8 declared. Rakesh added 104 wtih Padmanabhan Prasanth for the seventh wicket, before Prasanth was caught of Akshay Wakhare for 59. Kanakkatharaparambu Sreejith then trapped Akshay Kolkar leg before to leave Vidharba 6 for 1, and needing another 222 to avoid an innings defeat.

Jammu & Kashmir stare defeat in the face as they trail Services by 224 runs with eight wickets remaining in their second innings at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi. Medium pacer Nishan Singh and offspinner Arnav Kush combined to take either wickets and dismiss J&K for 172. Nishan had the slightly better figures of 4 for 38, compared to Kush's 4 for 40. Arshad Bhatt made 56 and Samiullah Beigh made 40, but no one else got more than 16. Made to follow-on, J&K stuttered to 57 for 2 at the close of play, with Bhatt already back in the pavilion for 8.

Andhra Pradesh ended the day on 138 for 1 after opener Harshad Khadiwale's career-best 183 had carried Group B table-toppers Maharashtra to 368 in Vishakapatnam. AP lost opener Manoj Sai with just two runs on the board, but Hemal Watekar and Satyakumar Verma knuckled down to add 136 together, and give the hosts a chance of picking up the three points that comes with taking a first-innings lead. Both batsmen played cautiously, spending over four hours each at the crease, in compiling their unbeaten half centuries. Watekar will resume tomorrow on 67, while Verma is on 59.