Kohli lasts 15 balls on Ranji return; Saurashtra eye bonus-point win

Kohli's short stay
It lasted all of 15 deliveries in which he made six. Virat Kohli was beaten twice outside off, once to a full delivery that left him late and then a length ball that he jabbed and missed.

He brought out a delightful straight drive in the next over, but was out off the very next delivery when Himanshu Sangwan, a Railways ticket collector at New Delhi Railway Station during the off-season, sent his off stump cartwheeling. Soon, Sangwan became a reel sensation for a superb nip-backer that sneaked through Kohli's big gap between bat and pad.

A strong crowd of around 15,000 who made a beeline for the exit, missed a quality knock from Ayush Badoni. The captain's 77-ball 99 helped Delhi open up a 93-run lead against Railways, with three first-innings wickets remaining.

Pujara 99, Saurashtra on course
The stars have aligned perfectly for Saurashtra. They needed two outright with bonus points, both games were at home in Rajkot on turners; they beat Delhi last week inside three days with Ravindra Jadeja taking 12 wickets.

This week, they didn't need Ravindra's bowling because the other Jadeja (Dharmendrasinh), was among the wickets (four of them) as Assam were made to follow-on. That Saurashtra were in a position to enforce the follow-on was because of a solid batting performance in the first innings.

Their 474 was set up by Cheteshwar Pujara, who was out for 99 early on day two having added four to his overnight score. Assam's only source of resistance was Riyan Parag, who top-scored with 51 on his return to top-flight cricket from a shoulder injury.

Kuldeep made to toil
Returning to competitive cricket after three months following a surgery for sports hernia, Kuldeep Yadav sent down 31 overs to pick up three wickets, but Uttar Pradesh were sent on a leather hunt. Double tons from Harsh Gawli and Shubham Sharma helped Madhya Pradesh post an imposting 670 for 7 declared. From a qualification standpoint, this game doesn't hold much significance since with both teams are out of the knockouts race.

Rahane 96 in mammoth Mumbai total
Ajinkya Rahane's quest to convert his maiden first-class fifty this Ranji season into a century met disappointment as he was out for 96 against Meghalaya, but Mumbai opened up a 585-run lead.

Meghalaya were 27 for 2 at stumps, giving Mumbai a sight of seven full points that will take them to 29 points and help them seal a quarter-final berth. Coming into the final round, they needed a favour from Jammu & Kashmir, and they've helped them along the way by pocketing not just a first-innings lead against Baroda but also opening up the possibility of an outright win.

Jalaj continues to shine
Earlier this season, Jalaj Saxena - the Kerala allrounder - completed the double of 6000 first-class runs and 400 wickets. In the final round of matches, he picked up a five-for in each innings, both on Friday, as Kerala trounced Bihar by an innings to secure a quarter-final berth.

Jalaj took his wickets tally in the tournament to 421, the seventh-best. This was the 10th time he picked up 10 wickets or more in a first-class game. Bihar lasted a combined 64.2 overs across both innings in which they made make 64 and 118 in response to Kerala's 351 fuelled by Salman Nizar's 150.

TN stutter but knockouts chances burn bright
They need 97 and have only five wickets in hand against Jharkhand, but a scenario has emerged wherein Tamil Nadu can qualify for the knockouts despite a defeat. That's because Chandigarh - who won three successive games outright in the first half - have now conceded the first-innings lead to Chhattisgarh in a game they needed to win with a bonus point. Tamil Nadu's hopes of pulling off the chase are pinned on Vijay Shankar, who is unbeaten on 33.