Assam in sight of victory against Tripura

Assam's bowlers carried on the good work done by their batsmen to put their side in sight of a big win against Tripura in Guwahati. Resuming on 256 for 7, Sairaj Bahutule added crucial runs with the tail to take the hosts to a respectable 331. Timir Chanda added a wicket to the four he picked overnight to finish with a creditable 5 for 65. Tripura's reply was wrecked when they lost both openers with just one run on the board. Rajesh Banik was then run out to put them in further strife. That the visitors managed to reach three-figures was down to the efforts of Nishit Shetty, who top-scored with 33, while wickets fell in a heap all around him. Abu Nechim Ahmed helped himself to a haul of five wickets, as the hosts enforced the follow-on. However the same script played out again, with the openers managing only one run between them. By close of play, Tripura lost one more wicket and will have a tough time avoiding an innings defeat on the third day.

Ajay Ratra struck an unbeaten 170 and strung together substantial partnerships with the middle and lower orders to give Goa total control against Jharkhand at the end of the second day in Dhanbad. The overnight pair of Ratra and Rahul Keni extended their association to 132 runs before Keni was dismissed by Rahul Shukla. Saurabh Bandekar then struck a busy 35, adding 48 for the sixth wicket before Shahbaz Nadeem sent him back. At the other end, Ratra had settled in and his concentration did not flag upon reaching his fifth first-class hundred. He found another willing partner in Shadab Jakati, who hit 63, which included three fours and three sixes. Goa eventually declared after 76 overs in the day and had further reason to celebrate when Robin D'Souza prised out Siddhartha Sinha before stumps.

Rajasthan finished behind Vidarbha with five first-innings wickets standing at the end of a closely-contested second day in Jaipur. Overnight top-scorer Ravi Jangid was unable to break the shackles imposed by the hosts on the first day and crawled to a painstaking half-century before he became Sumit Mathur's third victim. No. 11 Umesh Yadav then added a crucial 37 for the last wicket with Akshay Wakhare to hand Vidarbha a bonus. Rajasthan's reply was stalled by the early dismissal of Vineet Saxena before Gagan Khoda and Pranay Sharma steadied the innings with an 82-run stand. Sharma was dismissed for 41 and Vidarbha made regular dents in the hosts' batting line-up there on in before finishing the day on a high with Khoda's wicket. Khoda struck five fours and a six during his fifty and will be disappointed at giving away a crucial quarter at the end of the day.

Devendra Bundela and Monish Mishra struck authoritative hundreds to arrest a dramatic middle-order collapse and put Madhya Pradesh in control against Jammu and Kashmir in Indore. At stumps, the hosts had a sizeable lead with three first-innings wickets still standing. The visitors had much reason to celebrate in the morning when Abid Nabi removed overnight half-centurion Jalaj Saxena in his first over of the day before striking twice in his third. Things went pear-shaped for the visitors from there on as Bundela and Mishra combined to add 226 in 57.3 overs - a mountain of runs given that 15 wickets had fallen for 291 leading up to their stand. Mishra counter-attacked from the outset, striking 15 fours and a six in his 131, which came at a strike rate of over 72. Bundela carried on after Mishra's dismissal in the 90th over, adding 88 with Anand Singh for the seventh wicket. Abid Nabi finished the day the way he began it - with a wicket - but he would have been much happier if the interim script had been different.

Haryana's medium-pacers gave their side the ascendancy in what is turning into a low-scoring affair in Anantapur. Andhra began the day on top, looking to whittle down the visitors' below-par first-innings total. However, the first ball of the day set the tone for an entirely different script as Joginder Sharma trapped Prasad Reddy in front. Sanjay Budhwar and Sachin Rana then got among the wickets, pushing Andhra to 47 for 5, including that of the top-scorer Venugopal Rao. The lower half of the Andhra line-up fared marginally better before Dhruv Singh picked two wickets to hasten the end and give Haryana a first-innings lead of 32. The visitors then got into early trouble for the second time in the match, losing three wickets for just 15. Opener Rahul Dewan anchored the innings with a crucial 62 to extend the lead to 139 at stumps and will look to kick on with the lower order on the third day.