Gajendra Singh puts Rajasthan on top

A collective bowling effort led by left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh put Rajasthan on top against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, securing a major first-innings lead and giving his team an excellent shot at an outright victory. Gajendra picked up four wickets in Hyderabad's capitulation in response to Rajasthan's 421. Only captain Dwaraka Ravi Teja (67) and Arjun Yadav (42) provided any significant resistance, as their team was skittled out for 144, conceding a lead of 277. Sumit Mathur picked up two wickets, so did legspinner Vivek Yadav, supporting Gajendra.

Hyderabad, however, responded strongly in their second innings after following on. Ravi Teja hit his second half-century of the match and Akshath Reddy was unbeaten on 77; the opening pair were undefeated at stumps with the score on 138 without loss, the deficit brought down to 139.

Tamil Nadu retained control of their quarter-final contest against Maharashtra at Chepauk, despite a better effort from the latter on the field and with the bat.

TN had gained a first-innings lead on the second day and consolidated their advantage on the third, but the Maharashtra bowlers were able to bowl the hosts out for 415. Starting at 259 for 3, the TN middle order got starts but was unable to push on. S Badrinath made 49, K Vasudevadas contributed 36 and Yo Mahesh chipped in with a valuable 59 down the order. Seamer Samad Fallah and left-arm spinner Akhay Darekar picked up three wickets each, but TN built a significant lead of 183.

In their response, the Maharashtra openers, Harshad Khadiwale and Chirag Khurana, both of whom had batted solidly in the first innings, put on an unbeaten 90-run stand in 29 overs. They reduced the deficit to 93 but, barring a dramatic TN collapse, Maharashtra's chances of going through to the semis are negligible.

Haryana, who surprised many by qualifying for the quarter-finals, knocked out Karnataka from the Ranji Trophy after registering an outright victory. Read the full report here.

Mumbai all but sealed their place in the semis by virtually shutting out Madhya Pradesh in Indore, thanks to a maiden first-class century from Ankeet Chavan. Read the full report here.