Jalaj Saxena wins thriller for MP

Madhya Pradesh 242 and 133 for 6 (JS Saxena 57*) beat J&K 281 and 91 by 4 wickets
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Jalaj Saxena hit an unbeaten fifty to guide Madhya Pradesh to a four-wicket win against Jammu & Kashmir in a low-scoring thriller in Jammu. Having resumed on 18 for 3, needing a further 113 runs to win on the final day, MP lost three wickets to reach 85 for 6. Jalaj, who resumed the day on 11, then shared a 48-run stand in 16 overs with Murtaza Ali (29*) to steer MP home. Out for a duck in the first innings, Jalaj could not have found a better time to register his highest first-class score. The game had turned on its head on the third day when Anand Rajan grabbed a career-best six-wicket haul to help MP, who faced a first-innings deficit, shoot J&K out for 91.

Gujarat 470 beat Tripura 116 and 282 (Shetty 80, Makda 7-90) by an innings and 72 runs
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Powered by a career-best 7 for 90 from Ashraf Makda, Gujarat registered an innings victory against Tripura in Ahmedabad. At the start of the fourth day, the last six Tripura wickets needed 200 runs to make Gujarat bat again. Makda, the left-arm medium-pacer, grabbed four wickets as Gujarat took the required wickets in 42.4 overs of play to earn six points from the game. Nishit Shetty offered the lone fight with an 80, but he only managed to delay the inevitable.

Haryana 273 and 286 for 6 dec. beat Jharkhand 205 and 223 (Vardhan 106, Rana 3-47) by 132 runs
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Jharkhand lost their last six wickets for 52 runs as Haryana beat them by 132 runs with only three overs' play to spare. Apart from the captain Manish Vardhan who scored 106, not a single Jharkhand batsman reached 20, extras (30) being the second-largest contributors to their score of 223.

Haryana, after having attained a first-innings lead on the third day, had declared overnight with a lead 354 runs. Sachin Rana, their medium-pacer, followed his first-innings effort of three wickets with three more in the second innings.

Kerala 566 for 6 dec. drew with Services 350 (Yohanan 5-57) and 233 for 8 (Jasvir Singh 43, Yashpal Singh 43, S Anish 6-113)
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At Palakkad, Kerala took the last five Services wickets for 25, enforced a follow-on, took eight second-innings wickets, but ran out of time and could not enforce an outright win. Services, who resumed at 325 for 5, collapsed to the bowling of Tinu Yohannad and Prasanth Chandran.

Following on, Services made a steady start, but they lost their first two wickets at the score of 36. After a 69-run third-wicket stand, Services kept losing wickets consistently. Jasvir Singh and Yashpal Singh scored 43 runs each to keep them afloat. Sadanandan Anish, Kerala's right-arm offbreak bowler, bowled 34 overs for his six wickets.

Goa 535 for 9 dec. and 53 for 2 drew with Railways 425 (Rawat 96, Gadekar 3-53)
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Goa dismissed Railways for 425 to walk away with the first-innings points in Margao. Railways, in pursuit of Goa's 535, began the day at 291 for 5, with wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat approaching his first century for Railways. Rawat missed the ton by four, and his wicket at the team score of 348 triggered a collapse as the next four could add only 57 runs. Karan Sharma, who had scored a century in the previous game - his debut - was left stranded at 70. Harshad Gadekar and Robin D'souza took three wickets apiece for Goa.

Assam 216 (Sharath 60, Gandhe 4-20) drew with Vidarbha 126 for 5 (Naidu 48)
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After rain had washed out close to three days of play, Assam and Vidarbha couldn't force a first-innings result and took away a point apiece. Assam, resuming at 65 for 2, scored 216, thanks largely to S Sharath's 60. Pritam Gandhe, the Vidarbha offbreak bowler, bowled 15.4 economical overs in which he took four wickets and gave way 20 runs.

Alind Naidu, Vidarbha's No. 3, made sure there won't be any hiccups in getting the one point, by scoring 48 runs.