Tamil Nadu in charge despite Patel's hat-trick

Baroda 64 for 9 (Jesuraj 5-12) trail Tamil Nadu 152 (Kumar 52*, Patel 7-43) by 88 runs
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Rakesh Patel, playing in his 49th first-class game, and Rajamani Jesuraj, in only his third, had a day to remember at Vadodara, where Tamil Nadu struggled before hitting back spectacularly at Baroda. Only 216 runs were scored in the day, but it was a very eventful one. Patel claimed a hat-trick on his way to 7 for 43, when he dismissed Dinesh Karthik, MR Shrinivas and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar in the 37th over. At that stage Tamil Nadu were 93 for 8. Then Hemanth Kumar, with an unbeaten 52, and C Ganapathy (24) added 43 invaluable runs, and 16 more came before the last wicket fell at 152. Jesuraj made an impact immediately. He struck twice in his second over, and continued to pick wickets in the ten overs he bowled. His new-ball partner, Shrinivas, claimed three wickets. Such was their impact, seven of the nine batsmen out did not reach double figures. Tamil Nadu have this game under control, barring another low score tomorrow.

Maharashtra 305 for 7 (Jadhav 139) v Uttar Pradesh
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A well-crafted 139 by Dheeraj Jadhav gave Maharashtra the upper hand against Uttar Pradesh at Karad. They reached 305 for 7 mainly on the back of Jadhav's effort. He scored 108 runs more than anyone else, stroked 20 fours, and left his team in a position of strength when he finally fell at 234 for 4. The only bowler to make an impact was Shalabh Srivastava, whose three wickets cost 54 runs. It was a bitter-sweet day for the other bowlers, for although wickets came, they only did so after little partnerships had been built.

Punjab 25 for 3 trail Hyderabad 233 (Laxman 79, Vikram Singh 7-75) by 208 runs
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Vikram Singh's 7 for 75 was instrumental in limiting Hyderabad to only 233 - despite an accomplished 79 by VVS Laxman - but Punjab found the going tough when they came out to bat at Hyderabad, losing three quick wickets before stumps. Singh struck after a quick start by the Hyderabad openers, removing both in the space of six balls. His next wicket took some time coming, as Laxman and Vinay Kumar put on 73 for the third wicket before Singh had Kumar caught behind. Reetinder Sodhi then struck twice - including Laxman - before Singh claimed four more to wrap up the innings. Then Punjab were reduced to 7 for 3 inside eight overs, with both openers and the captain, Pankaj Dharmani, gone. Binwant Singh remained unbeaten with a soporific 58-ball 5, and Ankur Kakkar kept watch with him to ensure things didn't get even worse.

Mumbai 273 for 8 (Mane 67, Shetty 65, Joshi 5-100) v Karnataka
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Sunil Joshi spun a web around Mumbai's middle order at the Wankhede Stadium to collect the 24th five-wicket haul of his career, and to give Karnataka a satisfactory first day. Mumbai were limited to 273 for 8, with only the bowlers left to bat tomorrow. Barring handy sixties from Vinayak Mane and Nishit Shetty, and VA Indulkar's 47, no-one could get started. Amol Muzumdar followed shortly after Mane and Indulkar's dismissals at 129 - they had put on 102 for the second wicket - to surrender the momentum back to Karnataka. A brief period of resistance ensued as Mane and Sairaj Bahutule added 71, but Joshi then struck three times before stumps.

Gujarat 207 for 4 (Damani 112*, Thaker 52) v Madhya Pradesh
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Kirat Damani and Bhavik Thaker painstakingly tilted the game Gujarat's way after Sanjay Pandey had reduced them to 46 for 3 at Ahmedabad. Damani hit an unbeaten 112 from 274 balls, while Thaker fell for 52 in the last over of the day. But they had added 161 together by then, and had taken their team to 207 for 4.

Bengal 229 for 7 (Gavaskar 68) v Delhi
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Rohan Gavaskar boosted Bengal with an innings of 68 that came when they were in trouble, but departed when there was still much more to do. Delhi ended the day on marginally better ground, having restricted their opponents to 229 for 7. Several of the Bengal batsmen got off to starts, but they could not capitalise on them. For a while it appeared as if Gavaskar and Subhomoy Das would change the trend, but shortly after Gavaskar's dismissal, Das was forced to retire hurt with 47. They had put on 85 together.

Railways 165 for 6 v Andhra
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At Anatapur, Venugopal Rao claimed three wickets on a day when runs were ground out by Railways, who ended on 165 for 6 from 90 overs. The highest scorer was Sanjay Bangar, with 43. Tejinder Singh came next with 40. Jai Yadav began to construct his innings, but it was cut short at 31 by Mohammed Faiq, who bowled 25 overs and conceded just 28 runs. Anatapur will see another grim struggle for runs tomorrow, unless Andhra prise out the last few wickets quickly and can then push on.