Pathan and Pawar rattle Bengal

Bengal 370 and 86 (Pathan 5-36, Pawar 4-23) lost to Baroda 515 (Solanki 186, Yusuf 183) by an innings and 59 runs
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After his super quick 186 on the third day, Yusuf Pathan teamed up with left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar to run through the Bengal second innings to take Baroda to an innings win in their first match of the season. The two spinners had taken the new ball on the third day and Pathan had struck in his first over itself.

On the fourth today, they continued in the same vein as they reduced Bengal to 13 for 5 in 13 overs. A sixth-wicket partnership of 36 runs between Wriddhiman Saha and Rana Chowdhary provided some resistance, but the spinners struck again to skittle Bengal out for 86. The spinners bowled accurately as the four lbw and two bowled dismissals show.

Delhi 244 and 295 for 2 dec. drew with Saurashtra 213 and 254 for 9 (Pujara 148*, Sangwan 4-70)
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Cheteshwar Pujara got invaluable support from Sandeep Jobanutra and Sandip Maniar, the Nos. 10 and 11, as Saurashtra hung on for a miraculous draw against Delhi. After Delhi declared overnight, setting Saurashtra a target of 327 runs, Saurahstra lost their first eight wickets for 106 runs.

That's when Jobanputra joined Pujara and they made Delhi wait for 157 minutes and 35.5 overs to get their next wicket. Jobanputra scored a patient 35 in a partnership of 119 and left Pujara and Maniar another 16.2 overs to negotiate.

Maniar hung in for 5 off 32 balls as bad light made Saurashtra's task easier - play was called off with five overs to go. Pujara stayed unbeaten on 148 and was responsible for the one point that Saurashtra gained from the match.

Uttar Pradesh 298 and 297 for 6 dec. (Kaif 122*, Shankara Rao 4-72) drew with Andhra 326 and 213 for 4 (Reddy 103*, Varma 89)
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LNP Reddy and ASK Varma punished the Uttar Pradesh bowlers for the second time in the match, but they did not get enough time to get the target of 270 runs in a minimum of 48 overs. After UP had fallen behind in the first innings, their captain Mohammad Kaif scored a brisk unbeaten century to give themselves another chance in the game. UP got off to a good start, as Sudeep Tyagi got Hemal Watekar in the first over.

After that, however, Reddy and Varma took the attack to the bowlers and it was UP who were looking to hang on for a draw and not vice-versa. Reddy got his second century of the match with a boundary off the last ball of the day. Varma had to stay content with a second half-century as he got out for 89 in the penultimate over. Tyagi was on a hat-trick in the last over, but Gnaneshwara Rao first denied him and then took a single to get Reddy on the strike for the last ball.

Hyderabad 379 and 276 (Ravi Teja 111, Ladda 4-30) drew with Punjab 356 and 75 for 4 (Yadav 3-32)
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Hyderabad, after they secured a first-innings lead on the third day, chose to play safe as they set Punjab a target of 300 runs in 33 overs and even though Punjab lost four wickets the result was always going to be a draw.

Ravi Teja followed up the 55 in the first innings with a century in the second; when he got out in the 53rd over, he had scored 111 out of Hyderabad's 160 then.

Considering how quickly Punjab lost four wickets (in 28 overs), a competitive target set by Hyderabad would have made the end of the match interesting.