Manhas, Bhatia prop up Delhi

Delhi 268 for 6 (Gambhir 32, Manhas 92, Bhatia 71*) v Odisha
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Half-centuries from Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia helped Delhi end day one 268 for 6 against Odisha in Sambalpur. Manhas fell eight runs short of his third century of the season, while Bhatia was batting on 71 at stumps.

Sent in to bat, Delhi were 9 for 2 after medium-pacer Suryakant Pradhan struck twice in the sixth over of their innings. First to go was Unmukt Chand for 3, followed by Virender Sehwag, who fell for a duck that left him with 69 runs in seven innings this season at an average of 11.50.

Delhi recovered through Gautam Gambhir and Manhas, who put on 103 in 26.4 overs before Deepak Behera dismissed Gambhir for a 93-ball 32. Manhas added 40 for the fourth wicket with Vaibhav Rawal before he was out to Basant Mohanty for 92, having struck 18 fours and a six in his 115-ball knock.

At this point, Delhi were 152 for 4 with just over half the scheduled day's play - 46 overs - to go. Having scored at 3.45 an over for the first half of the day, Delhi's run rate dropped to 2.52 over the second half. But they only lost two more wickets. The left-handed Rawal made 35, and wicketkeeper Rahul Yadav - who replaced Puneet Bisht - scored 11, as they forged useful stands of 31 and 37 with Bhatia. Bhatia, who hit 11 fours in his 141-ball innings, saw out the last 21 overs in the company of Varun Sood. The pair ended the day two short of a half-century stand.

Karnataka 18 for 0 trail Haryana 247 (Saini 109, Binny 3-43) by 229 runs
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Having chosen to bowl on a Lahli pitch known to assist the quicker bowlers, Karnataka dismissed Haryana for 247. The wicketkeeper Nitin Saini played the lone hand with his fifth first-class century, while none of the other batsmen passed fifty.

After a 53-run opening stand between Rahul Dewan and Avi Barot, Karnataka's seamers - the four of them would go on to bowl all but seven overs of Haryana's innings, and take all ten wickets - struck to leave Haryana 104 for 4. Saini and Sachin Rana put on 72 for the fifth wicket, before Abhimanyu Mithun claimed his first wicket, dismissing Rana for 36, leaving Haryana at 176 for 5.

Their lower order didn't trouble Karnataka's bowlers too much; between them, numbers seven to eleven made 11 runs. But they combined to add 71 with Saini, who scored over 62% of the 175 Haryana made while he was at the crease before he was last out for 109. Saini struck 11 fours and three sixes in his 152-ball innings.

Vidarbha 75 for 1 (Fazal 34*) trail Punjab 184 (Mandeep 56, Wagh 3-34, Jungade 3-63) by 109 runs
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Vidarbha bowled Punjab out for 184, before ending the day at a solid 75 for 1 in Mohali. The visitors were 109 behind at stumps, with Faiz Fazal and Ravi Jangid together in an unbroken 56-run partnership.

Having chosen to field first, Vidarbha's seamers quickly got to work. Left-armer Shrikant Wagh bowled Manan Vohra for 4, before Amol Jungade had Uday Kaul caught behind to leave Punjab 16 for 2. Punjab staged a brief recovery through Mandeep Singh, who made 56 and added 32 with Jiwanjot Singh and 37 with Taruwar Kohli, before they suffered a double-jolt. Mandeep first edged Wagh to wicketkeeper Urvesh Patel and Taruwar was run out the next ball; Punjab were 85 for 5. That soon became 117 for 7.

Punjab eventually reached 184, with their last three wickets adding 67 runs. Sandeep Sharma made 20 of them, and VRV Singh smashed 30 off 13 balls.