Career-best figures from
Manan Sharma helped Delhi crush Odisha by an innings and 150 runs, and take a maximum of seven points from the game to extend their lead at the top of the Group B table. Manan added six wickets to his first-innings haul of two, to finish with 8 for 33 in the match. He conceded less than two to the over, as well, off his left-arm spin, and received stellar support from the rest of the Delhi attack as Odisha lost 19 wickets on the day for just 178 runs - they went from an overnight 25 for 1 in their first innings to 118 all out, before Gautam Gambhir enforced the follow-on and they were bowled out a second time, for 85, in under 40 overs.
Saurashtra put in the hard grind on day three, led by
Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a century. Vidarbha would have come into the day hoping to seal points for the first-innings lead, having reduced Saurashtra to 20 for 2 by stumps on day two after piling up 583 for 9 dec. But they could not dislodge either of the two not-out batsmen in a hurry;
Sagar Jogiyani went from 13 to 81, while Pujara scored all of his 114 runs today. Both were dismissed in quick succession by offspinner
Akshay Wakhare, and he added a third quick wicket, that of Sheldon Jackson, to ensure the day evened out for Vidarbha. They remain favourites for those first-innings points going into the final day, with Saurashtra still trailing by 332, with half the side already out.
A stand of 153 from openers
Jiwanjot Singh and
Uday Kaul ensured Punjab did not fold in the face of Gujarat's mammoth 513 for 8 dec. Instead they added 210 runs on day three, going from an overnight 9 for 0 to 219 for 4; they will need another 295 runs on the final day, if they are to steal first-innings points from Gujarat. After Jiwanjot and Uday were out - both in the 70s - Mandeep Singh and Yuvraj Singh also got starts, but neither could kick on.
Taruwar Kohli, though, kept the fight going, with an attritional 21 not out off 94 balls.