Hyderabad make Saurashtra sweat

Hyderabad 140 (Teja 35, Quadri 32, BN Jadeja 6-29, RA Jadeja 3-57) and 14 for 2 need 163 runs to beat Saurashtra 133 and 183 (Pathak 33, RA Jadeja 31, Shinde 4-13, Teja 3-33)
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A third-day finish is on the cards at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot. Hyderabad need 163 runs with eight wickets left in their second innings, but Saurashtra will fancy their chances in what has so far been a low-scoring affair.

As on the first day, 16 wickets fell on the second: Hyderabad began the day at 112 for 6 in their first innings, and closed the day at 7 for 2 in their second. In between they were bundled out for 140, a seven-run first-innings lead, and kept Saurashtra to 183, resulting in a fourth-innings chase of 177.

Syed Quadri and MP Arjun, Hyderabad's overnight batsmen, were dismissed quickly on the second morning, but Shoaib Ahmed took his side into the lead with his 16. Balkrishna Jadeja, who took all six wickets of Hyderabad's that fell on the first day, failed to add to his career-best figures. Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets to wrap up the innings, and was involved in the run-out of Ashwin Yadav.

Saurashtra's openers got off to a steady start, adding 49 in 15.2 overs. Ravi Teja, who top in Hyderabad's first innings, removed both Bhushan Chauhan and Chirag Pathak to leave them at 77 for 3. Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurashtra's leading batsman, and Ravindra Jadeja got starts, but both failed to build on them. From 109 for 3, Saurashtra slid to 138 for 7, and some resistance from the lower order took them to 183. Off-break bowler Amol Shinde finished with 4 for 13 in the innings, his maiden four-wicket haul.

Hyderabad lost their openers in the seven overs before stumps. Having dismissed Hyderabad for 140 in the first innings, the hosts will back themselves for a win on Saturday, which should cement their place in the quarter-finals unless Delhi pull off something spectacular in Jaipur.

Delhi 117 for 0 (Dhawan 58*, Chopra 50*) trail Rajasthan 295 (Kuldeep Singh 77, Saxena 71, Awana 3-40, Sangwan 3-76) by 178 runs
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After a lacklustre performance on the first day, Delhi bounced back strongly on the second and look poised to take the first-innings lead against Rajasthan at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Overnight on 197 for 2, Rajasthan could only add 100 to that score, and Delhi's openers raced to 117 by stumps.

Kuldeep Singh, resuming on 71, was run out on 77 by Yogesh Nagar, setting off Rajasthan's slide. Venugopal Rao (30) was soon caught off Parvinder Awana. There was a 37-run stand between Robin Bist (38) and Rajesh Bishnoi (21), but legspinner Chetanya Nanda broke the partnership. The last six Rajasthan wickets fell for 35 runs, with left-armer Pradeep Sangwan striking thrice.

Delhi made a confident start in reply, with both their openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra, pushing on to half-centuries. If Saurashtra win, Delhi will need to win their game with a bonus point. In that case, they will need to get a big first-innings lead as quickly as possible on Saturday, and give themselves enough time to dismiss Rajasthan in the second innings.

Gujarat 210 for 3 (PA Patel 127*, Panchal 59) lead Orissa 162 by 48 runs
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While Delhi and Saurashtra battle for a quarter-final place, Gujarat have virtually booked their spot from Group A. If Gujarat lose this game, Delhi and Saurashtra have a chance to catch up with them, but they adopted a cautious approach to put themselves in a strong position against Orissa. After dismissing the hosts for 162 on the first day, Gujarat crawled to 210 for 3 in 92 overs by stumps on the second.

Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, led from the front with an unbeaten 127 after Gujarat lost two quick wickets on the second morning. It was a patient 280-ball knock from Parthiv, who got support from Priyank Panchal. They added 164 for the third wicket. Panchal scored 59 off 205 deliveries. Bhavik Thaker, though, outdid the others in slowly building an innings: he hit one four in his unbeaten 59-ball innings. With the first-innings lead, Gujarat have three points in the bag, and only a loss can dampen their quarter-final prospects.

Railways 78 for 1 (Cheluvaraj 50*) trail Tamil Nadu 475 for 6 dec (Mukund 162, Karthik 113, Ashwin 103*) by 397 runs
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With Karnataka placed favourably against Maharashtra, Railways' hopes of a quarter-final place look increasingly bleak after Tamil Nadu raked up an imposing 475 for 6 declared. The hosts began the day in Chennai at 295 for 4, and their tally was boosted by offspinner R Ashwin's maiden first-class century.

Ashwin became the third centurion in the innings after Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik scored ton on Thursday. He added 87 for the sixth wicket with Mukund, who was eventually dismissed for 162, which included 18 fours and a six. Ashwin hit 15 fours in his 103, and shared an unbroken 83-run partnership with C Ganapathy, who scored 31 off 94 balls.

Tamil Nadu declared soon after Ashwin got his century. Railways made a slow start to their innings, and lost Prasanjit Das for 7, the team total was 12 then after eight overs. V Cheluvaraj, playing his second game, made an unbeaten 50 as Railways played out the day without further loss. Yere Goud gave him company, taking 63 balls for his 12 not out.

Andhra 77 (IK Pathan 7-35) and 6 for 0 trail Baroda 400 (Parab 130, Bilakhia 73, Shah 72, Solanki 64, TA Rao 5-66, Suresh 3-98) by 317 runs
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Unless Andhra make a miraculous - and highly improbable - turnaround, relegation seems imminent for the bottom-placed team in Group B. Replying to Baroda's 400, they were shot out for 77, thanks to Irfan Pathan's career-best 7 for 35, and will begin the third day needing a further 317 runs to make Baroda bat again.

Baroda need a win to have any chance of making it to the quarter-finals, and they put themselves in a strong position to gain a bonus point as well. Resuming on 201 for 1, they pushed to 400. Satyajit Parab added 22 to his overnight 108, and Azharuddin Bilakhia too failed to stay at the crease for long. With the other batsmen not contributing much, it was half-centuries from Pinal Shah and Rakesh Solanki that took Baroda to 400. The last five wickets fell for 47 runs. For Andhra, debutant TA Rao took a five-wicket haul, while M Suresh scalped three. If Baroda would have disappointed with not converting their first-day 201 for 1 to a bigger total, Irfan ensured they finished the day on an absolute high, single-handedly running through the opposition, whose first innings lasted 20 overs. AG Pradeep did not bat due to an injury.

Karnataka 252 and 131 for 5 (Akhil 30*, ) lead Maharashtra 210 (Khadiwale 70, Shilamkar 39, , Appanna 4-40, Joshi 4-62) by 173 runs
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Fourteen wickets fell on a spinners' day as Karnataka surged to a healthy 173-run lead with five wickets remaining in their second innings at the RSI Ground in Bangalore. Sunil Joshi harassed Maharashtra'a top order and KP Appanna cleaned up the tail to give their batsmen a chance to take the game away from the visitors. (Read the full report.)

Punjab 202 & 18 for 0 trail Mumbaii 436 for 9 declared (Muzumdar 113, Rohit 85, Rahane 80, Samant 65, Nayar 61, Kakkar 3-93) by 216 runs
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Mumbai continued to dictate terms for the second straight day at the Brabourne Stadium, with Amol Muzumdar and Rohit Sharma's handsome knocks taking the game further away from Punjab. Muzumdar scored his first hundred of the season, and his 132-run fourth-wicket stand with Rohit was the main highlight of a day on which Punjab failed to make any impression. (Read the full report.)