Services in command after Yashpal's ton

Madhya Pradesh 239 and 127 for 3 (Ojha 61*, Rao 2-18) trail Services 391 (Yashpal 142, Paliwal 99, Jatin 4-47, Jalaj 4-83) by 25 runs
Scorecard

Services couldn't capitalise on their overnight score of 256 for 3 as much as they would have liked but ended the day in a strong position after scoring 391 and removing three Madhya Pradesh batsmen. MP were 127 for 3 but still trail be 25 runs.

Services batsmen Rajat Paliwal and Yashpal Singh were 92 and 81 overnight but the former fell one short of his seventh first-class hundred. Yashpal brought up his 15th, but lost another partner soon and Services were 309 for 5. Along with Vishnu Tiwari, Yashpal took them past 350 but fell for 142 soon after to legspinner Jatin Saxena. With the help of Jalaj Saxena, who dismissed Irfan Khan, Jatin ran through the tail to restrict Services' first-innings lead to 152. Jatin and Jalaj picked up four wickets each.

MP lost their openers cheaply and were struggling at 30 for 2 before Naman Ojha rescued them again with a half-century. Mohnish Mishra gave him able support with a useful 31, but he handed a return catch to Koteswar Rao at the score of 101, ending the 71-run stand. Even though, Ojha and Devendra Bundela remained unbeaten at stumps, MP face a tough task of taking a hefty lead to take control of the match.

Bengal 303 and 194 for 8 (Majumdar 69, Saha 52, Bhatt 4-47) lead Saurashtra 225 (Pujara 102, Dinda 4-65) by 272 runs
Scorecard

Bengal's middle-order batsmen and Saurashtra's pacers set up an exciting last day of the third round at Eden Gardens, as the hosts lead by 272 and have two wickets in hand.

Bengal's top four batsmen departed for low scores, two of them dismissed by Chirag Jani, leaving the score at 59 for 4. Wriddhiman Saha and Anustup Majumdar scored fifties and averted any more damages for a while with a partnership of 91. Once the score passed 150, Jani struck again and removed Saha for 52. Before Bengal could build on their lead further, Abhishek Bhatt took the next three wickets within 25 runs, and with the wicket of Majumdar for 69, Bengal were 189 for 8.

With three fours, Sourav Sarkar was unbeaten on 13 at stumps. Bhatt and Jani finished the day with figures of 4 for 47 and 3 for 54 respectively.

Piyush Chawla was on 9, and Uttar Pradesh were still 81 away from Tamil Nadu's score when Abhinav Mukund put down a fairly straightforward chance at point. On a day when Tamil Nadu's bowling looked listless, and opportunities were rare, their fielding had to be spot-on. It wasn't, and Chawla capitalised to reach his fifth first-class hundred as UP took a big lead on the third day in Meerut.

Read the full report here.

Rajasthan 178 and 5 for 0 need another 251 runs v Railways 283 and 150 (Bhille 50*, Chahar 3-33, Choudhary 3-35)
Scorecard

Rajasthan added 36 to their overnight score of 142 and then dismissed Railways for 150 to set themselves a target of 256 for the last day.

Trailing by 141 at the beginning of the third day, Rajasthan lost Vineet Saxena in the third over of the day before he could score. Ranjitkumar Mali dismissed Deepak Chahar and Pankaj Singh soon enough to help Railways take a first-innings lead of 105. Mali, Anureet Singh and Krishnakant Upadhyay took three wickets apiece.

The main contributions for Railways came from the top and middle order, as only four of the batsmen reached double-figures. Chahar removed both openers within eight overs but with a contribution of 22 from No. 4 HD Rawle, Nitin Bhille found some stability for Railways. However, Rawle was caught behind off Aniket Choudhary causing Railways' lower-order to collapse.

Within nine overs, they slipped from 95 for 3 to 119 for 7 as Chahar removed Arindam Ghosh, and Choudhary took two more wickets. To add to that, Anureet and Upadhyay were run out and Railways folded for 150, with Bhille unbeaten on 50. Chahar and Choudhary notched three scalps each.

With a day left, Rajasthan need 251 more to win, with both openers unbeaten overnight.