Pappu, Tiwary fifties build Jharkhand lead

Jharkhand 221 and 149 for 6 (Tiwary 57, Pappu 56*) lead Odisha 307 (Pati 94, Samantray 67, Yadav 5-61) by 63 runs
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Odisha started the third day with intentions of building their lead, 24 overnight, to healthier proportions against Jharkhand. Resuming on 245 for 5, however, things did not fold out as per plan when in the eighth over of the day, Biplab Samantray was caught for 67 off the bowling of Varun Aaron. The rest of the batting folded limply as Odisha were all out for 307, their lead only 86 runs. Seamer Ajay Yadav was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with 5 for 61.

Any confidence Jharkhand had was quickly taken away when Basant Mohanty single-handedly went after the top and middle-order, claiming all six wickets that fell. At 37 for 5, things looked rather bleak, but a 99-run partnership between wicketkeeper Pappu Singh and Saurabh Tiwary helped save some of Jharkhand's blushes as they finished the day on 149 for 6, with a lead of 63 runs.

Gujarat 127 and 33 for 3 trail Punjab 172 and 309 (Uday 52*, Jiwanjot 51, Taruwar 50) by 322 runs
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Gujarat were rocked early in their second innings by the efforts of seamers Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul as they finished the day on 33 for 3, requiring a further 322 for victory. Punjab began the day on 127 for 2, with Mandeep Singh and Taruwar Kohli resuming their overnight stand to put on 102 runs for the third wicket.

Mandeep was the first to fall on 46 when he was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up three wickets. Taruwar followed him soon after as he was caught off the bowling of Mehul Patel for 50. Uday Kaul, the wicketkeeper, added 52 but the rest of the batting could not muster meaningful contributions. Mehul claimed the final wicket, to finish with 3 for 79 as Punjab were bowled out for 309.

Gujarat started their second innings in the worst possible manner when opener Smit Patel was trapped in front by Sharma first ball. Manpreet Juneja didn't last long either as he was snared in the seventh over. Siddharth had Bhargav Merai leg before to make it 14 for 3 putting Gujarat in a tricky situation going into the fourth day.

Karnataka 252 for 2 (Uthappa 86, Agarwal 71, Rahul 59*) trail Vidarbha 542 (Shrivastava 193, Fazal 147, Ruikar 67, Sharath 4-104) by 290 runs
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Having resumed on 457 for 6, Vidarbha looked good to add on as much as they could. But just three overs into the morning, Shalabh Shrivastava's innings finally came to an end when he was caught behind on 193 off the bowling of medium-pacer HS Sharath. Sumit Ruikar, who was on 48 overnight, completed his maiden first-class half-century but he was bowled by Abhimanyu Mithun with the score on 490. Umesh Yadav struck a 39-ball 34 as Vidarbha posted 542. Sharath finished with best figures of 4 for 104.

Facing a daunting total, Karnataka started promisingly with the openers putting on 124, with Robin Uthappa falling for 86 to the bowling of Akshay Wakhare. KL Rahul joined Mayank Agarwal, and continued the good work with the pair adding 79 for the second wicket. Once Agarwal fell for 71, Manish Pandey came in at No. 4 and batted with Rahul to see Karnataka to a strong position of 252 for 2 but they still trailed Vidarbha by 290 runs.

Haryana 138 and 63 for 5 (Sood 3-3) trail Delhi 201 and 312 for 5 dec (Gambhir 153, Bhatia 56*) by 313 runs
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Gautam Gambhir showed a lot of intent during his knock of 153 while Virender Sehwag played a rank bad shot as Delhi closed in on their first outright win, against Haryana, in their fourth group league encounter.

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