Odisha kept their cool and completed their first outright win
in four years by defeating Haryana in Bhubaneswar. Haryana were expected to roll over after their first-innings implosion for 66, but they fought hard over the next three days to make sure it was not all one-way traffic for Odisha. Chasing 148 to win, Odisha were 60 for 3 overnight, and lost Abhilash Mallick early on. Their experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Halhadar Das followed soon after, and at 81 for 5, it was anybody's game. No. 3 Govind Podder and Deepak Behera, however, put on 43 runs to take Odisha close to victory. Podder fell after a crucial half-century, but Behera and Lagnajit Samal made sure Odisha's winless run didn't extend any longer. The result puts Odisha on seven points after three matches, while Haryana are yet to get their first point having lost both their games so far.
Tamil Nadu completed a dramatic victory over Maharashtra in Chennai - their first outright win of the season. Needing only two more wickets to finish off a thrilling match, Tamil Nadu took only 8.5 overs to confirm six points. Their spinners Aushik Srinivas and Malolan Rangarajan took a wicket each as Maharashtra folded for 88 on a pitch that was providing plenty of help to both the quicks and the spinners. The win takes Tamil Nadu to eight points after three matches, and Maharashtra are still stuck on one point after two games.
UP gave themselves 91 overs on the final day to bowl out Karnataka and were well on course but a dogged ninth-wicket stand between CM Gautam and KP Appanna that lasted more than 10 overs denied them six points. UP, however, floated to the top of the Group B table with ten points.
Declaring the innings at their overnight 343 for 5, UP set Karnataka a target of 446 overs on the last day and then struck early to remove the openers within the first 10 overs. Manish Pandey and Ganesh Satish resisted for 30 overs with a 122-run stand and both completed half-centuries, but well-set Pandey's run out opened the gates for the home side. UP's bowlers - led by Bhuwaneshwar Kumar's 4 for 67- kept chipping away with wickets at regular intervals and were close to finishing the job when they took the eighth wicket with ten overs to go. However, Gautam, who scored 26 off 109 balls, and No. 10 Appanna, who scored 4 off 26 balls, survived the last hour as the match ended in a frustrating draw for UP.
After four centuries and six half-centuries and nearly 1100 runs in four days, all Delhi and Baroda could do was to get a point each from their third round Ranji Trophy encounter at the Kotla. Replying to Baroda's 561, Delhi scored 505 for six, largely due to the twin centuries from
Mithun Manhas and
Rajat Bhatia along with an entertaining half-century by Sumit Narwal towards the end.