Dinda bowls Bengal to 14-run victory

Bengal 156 and 148 (Jhunjhunwala 46, VRV Singh 4-53) beat Punjab 133 (Gupta 41, Dinda 5-57) by 14 runs
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Ashok Dinda, the Bengal medium pacer, shocked Punjab with 5 for 57 and helped his side to a 14-run win at Mohali. Sourav Ganguly, Bengal's captain, and Ranadeb Bose backed Dinda's fine performance with two key wickets apiece.

Dinda and Bose quickly reduced Punjab to 54 for 4 before Ganguly brought himself on at first-change and bowled Reetinder Singh Sodhi for 23. Dinda continued to chip away and aided by Ganguly's second wicket, the ninth of the innings, picked up his fifth when he forced Rajesh Sharma to hit his own stumps while playing a shot.

Earlier, VRV Singh and Gagandeep Singh had combined for seven wickets as Bengal crumbled to 148 in their second innings, but ultimately Punjab failed to chase down the identical total.

Baroda 257 and 115 for 3 (Parab 54) beat Karnataka 85 and 283 (Chougule 61, Naidu 57, Patel 4-71, Pawar 4-83) by 7 wickets
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Powered by four-wicket hauls from Rakesh Patel and Rajesh Pawar, Baroda coasted to a seven-wicket victory in their first round match against Karnataka at Vadodara. Patel blew the tail apart as Karnataka, overnight on 180 for 4, were bowled out for 283. Tilak Naidu added 26 to his overnight score to reach his half-century but once Pawar ran him out, the rest folded up. Set a target of 112, Rishikesh Parab steered Baroda home with a patient 137-ball 54.

Rajasthan 204 and 204 (Khoda 100, Timil Patel 5-46) beat Gujarat 128 and 142 (Parthiv Patel 57) by 138 runs
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Gagan Khoda's 17th first-class hundred paved the way for Rajasthan to turn in a fine bowling display and complete a 138-run win over Gujarat at Ahmedabad. Khoda, 32, struck 14 fours and a six in his 146-ball innings, and was the only batsman to score more than 29. His effort shone bright against an aggressive Gujarat, led by Timil Patel, who bagged his maiden five-wicket haul and bowled Rajasthan out for the identical score as their first innings.

Chasing 281, Gujarat crumbled to 142 as every bowler used by Ajay Jadeja, himself included, picked up atlas one wicket. Mohammad Aslam, the left-arm spinner, had the best figures of 3 for 35. Parthiv Patel, Gujarat's captain and wicketkeeper, top-scored with 57.

Haryana 129 and 92 for 3 require another 150 runs to beat Andhra 202 and 168 (Joginder 7-41)
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Joginder Sharma picked up 7 for 41 - including a hat-trick to skittle out the tail - as Haryana dismissed Andhra for 168 and set themselves 242 to win at Rohtak. By stumps on the third day, Haryana had progressed to 92 for 3 as Venugopal Rao, Andhra's captain, was forced to use six bowlers - three spinners included - in defense of his side's sizeable total. Reduced to 67 for 3 last night, Andhra were rocked by Joginder, whose seven dismissals were either bowled or leg before. Allowing just 41 runs from 22 overs, Joginder, who began his domestic season with runs and wickets in the Duleep Trophy, made his Ranji opener a memorable one.

Saurashtra 342 and 77 for 2 trail Uttar Pradesh 450 (Ravikant Shukla 135, Yadav 88, Chawla 75, Jobanputra 4-85) by 31 runs
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Ravikant Shukla racked up his maiden first-class century and Piyush Chawla raced to his highest first-class score to propel Uttar Pradesh to a 108-run lead over Saurashtra at Kanpur. By the close of the third day Saurashtra had come within 31 runs of UP with eight wickets left. Shukla, who added 46 to his overnight score, fell just after UP gained the lead but Chawla took over and stitched together a 74-run partnership with Amir Khan to extend that. Rudra Pratap Singh nabbed two wickets to leave Saurashtra at 33 for 2 before Shitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwara Pujara steered them to stumps without any further damage.

Maharashtra 20 for 0 trail Hyderabad 385 (Anirudh 114, Inder Shekar Reddy 53*, Sanclecha 6-60) by 365 runs
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After yesterday's washout, action finally returned to the Chatrapati Shivaji Stadium in Karad with Hyderabad posting 385 and Saurashtra finishing day three on 20 for 0. Anirudh Singh, Hyderabad's No. 3 batsman, added just 14 to the 100 scored on the first day as Anupam Sanclecha, the right-arm medium pacer, scalped a career-best 6 for 60. 254 for 3 became 307 for 9 before Inder Shekar Reddy slammed an unbeaten 53, his highest first-class score, from the No.10 spot. Harshad Khadiwale and Dheeraj Jadhav played out 9.4 overs to take Saurashtra to 20 for 0 at stumps.