Umesh hat-trick, Assam rout Delhi for 149

Rajasthan 216 (P Yadav 67, Umesh 4-45, Wakhare 3-78) v Vidarbha
Scorecard

Umesh Yadav, who was released from the India squad to play in the Ranji Trophy, returned figures of 4 for 45, including a hat-trick to dismantle the tail, as Rajasthan's first innings came to a halt on 216 in Nagpur.

Only Pramod Yadav (67) and Siddharth Dobal (51*) managed to offer any resistance but the batting collapses around them undid the good work. Their first two wickets fell with only 35 on the board and their last five fell for 45 runs. Akshay Wakhare, who overtook Ravindra Jadeja to become the leading wicket-taker of the season last week, finished with three wickets. Rajat Bhatia (30), who made two 90s in his last two outings, was the only other batsmen to contribute anything of note.

Thirteen wickets fell on a day dominated by the seamers in Guwahati, with Assam nudging marginally ahead of table-toppers Delhi. Assam, who opted to field, shot Delhi out for 149 before ending the day on 69 for 3.

Krishna Das had a dream first spell, as he removed Unmukt Chand (0), Dhruv Shorey (1) and Nitish Rana (0) by the third over. Gautam Gambhir, the captain, fell soon after to leave Delhi in tatters at 8 for 4.

Milind Kumar and Punit Bisht led the mini-recovery with a 63-run stand for the fifth wicket, but the innings of substance came lower down from Manan Sharma - his 46 not out helped the tail last longer than it might have. Krishna, who recorded a 10-wicket haul in the previous match against Haryana, took 4 for 38, and Arup Das had three wickets to show for his efforts.

Delhi then hit back to reduce Assam to 36 for 3, Pradeep Sangwan accounting for two of those, but Gokul Sharma and KB Arun Karthick blunted the bowlers for the major part of the last session to take Assam to stumps with no further damage.

Odisha, in desperate need of full points to remain in contention for a knockout berth, took baby steps in that direction, led by captain Natraj Behera's century against Haryana in Lahli, a venue traditionally known to assist the faster men. He made an unbeaten 143 while Ranjit Singh, playing in only his second first-class game, also made 109 not out. Odisha, having elected to bat, ended the day on 280 for 1.

Mohit Sharma, captaining Haryana, was economical and also picked up the only wicket to fall in the sixth over, but the other bowlers failed to make any inroads. Offspinner Jayant Yadav, who has been in good form this season, was the most expensive, conceding 88 runs off his 21 overs. Haryana perhaps missed the services of Amit Mishra, who wasn't released to play in this round of matches despite not being picked for the second India-South Africa Test in Bangalore.

Bengal crawled at a little over 2.5 runs an over, but ensured the foundation was set for a big first-innings score against Maharashtra. They ended the day on 239 for 3 after opting to bat in Pune, with the openers, Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) and Sayan Mondal (51), adding 128.

The stand was ended by left-arm seamer Samad Fallah to give Maharashtra an opening, which they converted into a double-strike when Chirag Khurana's part-time offspin accounted for Mondal three overs later. Captain Manoj Tiwary got in to make 30, but was dismissed in the last half hour of play, with seamer Domnic Joseph having him caught behind. Then, Sudip Chatterjee and Shreevats Goswami saw off a tricky half hour to consolidate Bengal's advantage.