Karnataka, Delhi fight for quarters slot, in different matches

On a crazy day's play, Maharashtra lost their nine remaining first-innings wickets for 41 to be bowled out for 99, but in their follow-on, rattled off 315 for 2 in 74 overs. That earlier collapse, during which Abhimanyu Mithun took six wickets and Stuart Binny four, gave Karnataka a lifeline, and they now need to win with a bonus point to progress to the quarter-finals.

Maharashtra began the day at 58 for 1, moved on to 68, and then all hell break lose. No one barring the openers reached double figures, and the whole innings lasted just 29.1 overs. The highest partnership during this period was 10, which came immediately after three wickets fell at the score of 80.

Karnataka enforced the follow-on, but Mithun and Binny bowled only a few overs in the initial stages of the second innings. The Maharashtra openers were rampant and added 156 in 31.2 overs. Sangram Atitkar fell short of what would have been a fourth century, but Harshad Khadiwale went on to score 136 and fell half an hour before stumps. There was no panic, though, as Ankit Bawne and Rohit Motwani saw them through to stumps without further damage.

Karnataka have no option but to win this match. If they win with a bonus point, they make it to the quarters; if they win without a bonus point, they will hope Delhi don't win their match against Vidarbha.

The other side from Maharashtra, Vidarbha, endured a similar collapse as Maharashtra but towards the end of their first innings, against Delhi. They went from 220 for 5 to 257 all out, which allowed Delhi to enforce a follow-on. If Karnataka win their match, Delhi will need an outright win to progress, so the follow-on was desperately needed. If Karnataka don't win in Pune, Delhi are already through.

Progress through the first half of the day remained slow as Delhi kept pegging away, but failed to get wickets in a cluster. Then Hemang Badani and Sairaj Bahutule added 71 for the sixth wicket to take the thought of a follow-on further away, but Delhi came charging back. Pradeep Sangwan got Bahutule, and Narwal dismissed Badani and Amol Jungade.

Vidarbha, who were placed third at the start of this match, will now be ousted, because even in the best-case scenario they can end joint-third along with Delhi, in which case their poor run quotient will push them out.

Uttar Pradesh 160 (Deepak Behera 6-37) and 111 beat Odisha 127 (Imtiaz Ahmed 5-45) and 101 (Imtiaz Ahmed 5-29) by 23 runs
Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh beat Odisha inside seven sessions to end on the top of Group B, thus ensuring a meeting with a Group C team in the quarter-final. Odisha, who had to take the gamble of producing a green pitch against the best attack in the country, fell short by 23 runs, and were knocked out.

The day began with Odisha needing 92 runs with four wickets in hand, but it took UP only 17.2 overs to run through the rest. Imtiaz Ahmed completed his first 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Govind Podder resisted with a 36 - the second-highest score in the match, but UP were too good for Odisha.

A wicket fell every four-and-a-half overs in this match. The highest score - 37 - came from UP batsmen Umang Sharma and Akshdeep Nath. This match was good news for other aspirants from Group B - Karnataka, Baroda, Vidarbha and Delhi - who now have one team fewer fighting for those last two slots.

In the rain-affected, inconsequential match in Chennai, Tamil Nadu continued to have a long bat without declaration on their minds. Dinesh Karthik, who is not captaining the side in this match, fell 13 short of a double-century. When they did finally declare, they had left Haryana no chance to compete with their first-innings total.