Dheeraj Jadhav hit this Ranji season's first double-century to help Assam pile up 450 runs against Tripura in Guwahati. The bowlers then struck thrice to further strengthen the home teams situation.
Jadhav added 116 runs to his overnight score of 127 and shared a partnership pf 213 runs for the sixth wicket with J Syed Mohammed, who scored 89. However, the innings folded within five overs after Mohammed was lbw to Tushar Saha.
Tripura's chances of catching up were dealt a blow when Rajib Saha edged Abu Nechim to the wicketkeeper in the first over. They were pushed further towards the edge when Samrat Singha fell to Arup Das in the fourth over and finished the day at a precarious 72 for 3 after Nechim picked up his second. The day had an early finish as the weather intervened.
Paras Dogra's eighth first-class century took Himachal Pradesh ahead of Kerala's first innings total in Nadaun and with six wickets in hand, HP are placed comfortably to stretch the lead on the third day. Dogra was the only batsman in the HP line up to score runs at a relatively quick pace. His 121 came off 183 balls with 18 fours and three sixes, but he was caught behind in the penultimate over of the day off Raiphi Gomez. Dogra added 78 with Aakash Chopra and then followed it up with a century partnership with Hemanth Kumar to make it HP's day.
Kerala, 196 for 8 overnight, lasted only 8.2 overs in the morning to score 33 runs most of which came of Sanju Samson's bat. Seventeen-year-old Samson remained unbeaten on 127 while Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan shared three wickets each.
Half-centuries from Saurabh Tiwary and Shiv Gautam pulled out Jharkhand from a mid-innings wobble to build a substantial lead by the end of the second day against J&K in Srinagar. Tiwary, 72, and Gautam, 80, put up 108 for the sixth wicket after Parvez Rassol's three wickets had reduced them to 174 for 5. Although both batsmen were out towards the end of the day, the lower order ensured the lead was stretched beyond 150.
Jharkhand had started the day comfortably with a half-century partnership for the second wicket. But Ram Dayal struck the first blow of the day when he had Rameez Nemat, who scored 72, caught behind. Rassol followed it up with two wickets and when Abid Nabi picked up Deepak Chougule, J&K appeared set to restrict Jharkhand to a score not too far from theirs. But it was not to be.
Andhra bowlers were thwarted by a rearguard action from Services lower order on the second day of the Group C match in Ananatapur. After reducing Services to 73 for 5 on the rain-affected first day, Andhra managed to pick up only three wickets in 80 overs. Their first wicket came after 50 overs of toil on the second day. Till then, Rajat Paliwal and Sarabjit Singh had revived services with a 99-run stand. Both batsmen were out in quick succession but Andhra were frustrated by another unbeaten 55-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Muzzaffaruddin Khalid and Shadab Nazar.