Jharkhand openers secure draw

Himachal Pradesh had moved into a strong position on the third day in Ranchi but couldn't convert that into an outright win as Jharkhand's openers put on a big stand. Akash Verma, playing his third first-class match, gave himself an early birthday present by making his maiden century. His opening partner Manish Vardhan didn't complete a hundred, though, dismissed for 95. Their efforts, however, were enough to block Himachal's hopes of victory. Himachal get three points for the first-innings lead, while Jharkhand get one.

Goa took the enterprising decision of enforcing the follow-on after bowling out Kerala 27 overs into the day, instead of simply batting out till stumps, but weren't able to force a victory in Malappuram. Kerala had never looked like overhauling Goa's first-innings total of 512, and folded 215 runs short on the final morning. There was some brief excitement as Goa struck twice early in Kerala's second innings, before VA Jagadeesh and Robert Fernandez calmly added 80 to scotch hopes of an outright win.