Bahutule spins Maharashtra to victory

Sairaj Bahutule took seven wickets in his comeback match to set up an easy win for Maharashtra © Getty Images

Maharashtra 287 and 123 for 2 (Rao 45*) beat Rajasthan 105 and 303 (Saxena 99, Khoda 60, Bahutule 4-96) by eight wickets
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Even though Rajasthan put up 303 runs in their second innings, Maharashtra chased down the required 122 runs easily. Maharashtra had earlier dismissed Rajasthan for 105 in the first innings and gained a crucial 182-run first-innings lead. Vinit Saxena, resuming on 34*, led the battle for Rajasthan, but was trapped in front of the stumps on 99 by Sairaj Bahutule. Veteran Gagan Khoda, who had retired hurt on 34 on Friday, resumed to score 26 more, but the lower-order batsmen were unable to stay with Saxena, who was the last man out. Maharashtra lost two wickets, but never looked in trouble as captain Venugopal Rao and Kedar Jadhav steered them to victory. They would perhaps rue not gaining the bonus point, which they could have got had they attained the target without losing a second-innings wicket.

Bengal 370 and 1 for 1 (Pathan 1-0) trail Baroda 515 (Solanki 186, Yusuf 183) by 144 runs
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Big hundreds from Rakesh Solanki and Yusuf Pathan gave Baroda a first-innings lead of 145 against Bengal on day three in Vadodara. Solanki, resuming the day on 43, added another 143 runs and was the last to be dismissed, when was run out by Anustup Majumdar. But his innings, scored at a healthy pace of 55.52 per 100 balls, looked a crawl in comparison with Yusuf Pathan's 183 off 150 balls. This was Pathan's maiden first-class century. Saurasish Lahiri took three wickets today and finished with 4 for 184 in the innings.

To make matters worse for Bengal, Pathan struck just before stumps to dismiss the first-innings centurion Anustup Majumdar.

Delhi 244 and 295 for 2 (Chopra 124*, Dhawan 114) lead Saurashtra 213 (Kotak 77, Bhatia 4-16) by 326 runs
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Centuries from openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan took Delhi to a commanding position from where they can push for an outright result, after they had bowled out Saurashtra for 213.

Earlier Saurashtra had looked good to secure a first-innings lead when Shitanshu Kotak had taken them to 156 for 4. But after Kotak - who made 77 - fell, the rest of the batting folded. Rajat Bhatia and Ishant Sharma took four wickets each for Delhi. Bhatia conceded only 16 runs in his 17 overs.

Dhawan and Chopra then added 199 before Dhawan was caught behind off Rakesh Dhurv for 114. At stumps, Chopra was batting at 124, along with Virat Kohli, who was on 40.

Hyderabad 379 and 85 for 2 (Ravi Teja 61*) lead Punjab 356 (Goel 75, Ojha 3-127) by 108 runs
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Punjab lost their last four wickets for 18 runs to fall behind Hyderabad by 23 runs in the first innings. Half-centuries from Karan Goel and Pankaj Dharmani had brought Punjab close, but the run-out of Ankur Kakkar (45) triggered the collapse. Pragyan Ojha bowled 47 overs for 127 runs and ended up with three wickets for his troubles. Punjab will rue that none of their six batsmen, who had got good starts, converted them into a big score.

In the second innings, Ravi Teja, the Hyderabad opener, started aggressively and ended the day unbeaten on 61 off 89 balls.

Uttar Pradesh 298 and 105 for 2 lead Andhra 326 (Reddy 132, Varma 61, Tyagi 6-95) by 77 runs
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LNP Reddy's century and ASK Varma's half-century took Andhra to a first-innings lead of 28 against UP, despite Sudeep Tyagi's six-wicket haul. Reddy and Varma added 124 runs for the second wicket as they threatened to run away with the game. But Tyagi struck with four quick wickets to reduce them to 279 for 7. The Andhra tail, though, hung on to gain the vital first-innings lead; D Kalyankrishna scored 21 crucial runs.

This was Tyagi's second six-wicket haul ion as many first-class matches.

Karnataka 452 for 9 dec. beat Himachal Pradesh 179 (Bisla 42*, Kumar 3-26, Kumble 3-55) and 147 (Kumar 3-32, Kumble 3-41) by an innings and 126 runs
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Karnataka steamrolled Himachal Pradesh on the third day at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, winning the match by an innings and 26 runs. Himachal, resuming on 117 for 4 - trailing by 335, were bundled out for 179. Vinay Kumar, the right-arm medium-pacer, and Anil Kumble grabbed three wickets apiece and reaped the same reward after Himachal were asked to follow on. None of Himachal's batsmen managed a fifty in the match, as Karnataka gained six points - the maximum possible - from the game.

Mumbai 317 and 104 for 2 (Naik 57*) beat Tamil Nadu 206 and 214 (Ashwin 51, Powar 5-68, Salvi 3-27) by eight wickets
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Ramesh Powar's 5 for 68 was followed up by a quickfire 57 from Prashant Naik as Mumbai raced to an eight-wicket win against Tamil Nadu in Chennai. Tamil Nadu resumed the day at 30 at 1 - trailing by 81 runs, but their batsmen faltered again while facing Mumbai's bowlers, and were bundled out for 214 in their second innings. Ajit Agarkar removed Dinesh Karthik, and Aavishkar Salvi picked up three key wickets, including that of S Badrinath, whom he bowled for second time in the match. K Vasudevadas and R Ashwin led a rearguard action with a 91-run seventh-wicket stand, but Salvi removed them both - Ashwin with a run-out. Mumbai needed 104, and Naik's 42-ball 57 ensured they completed the win in 19 overs.