Bengal, Vidarbha power ahead

Sanjay Ramaswamy extended his impressive form this season, scoring 87 as Vidarbha were in line for the first innings lead after Goa posted 239 in Porvorim. After a half-century stand with Faiz Fazal, Ramaswamy put together 117 with Wasim Jaffer before falling to Darshan Misal's slow left-arm spin. Vidarbha ended the day on 199 for 2, with Jaffer (70*) and Shalabh Shrivastava (9*) at the crease.

Openers Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran's 222-run partnership underpinned Bengal's dominance as they posted 309 for 3 in response to Punjab's 147 in Amritsar.

Resuming from 76 for no loss, the openers lasted till the 67th over, before Easwaran (117 off 215 balls) was dismissed by seamer Siddarth Kaul, who also went on to remove Sudip Chatterjee within the next two overs. Shreevats Goswami (29*) and Raman battled to help Bengal recover from another loss, that of captain Manoj Tiwary. Bengal went to stumps with Raman one run shy of his second 150-plus score this season.

Seamers dominated on the second day in Raipur as Services folded for 272 against Chhattisgarh. Shahnawaz Hussain's five-for, along with two apiece from Pankaj Rao and PR Sinha, lead the rout for the hosts, despite a middle-order resistance from Services' left-hander Vikas Hathwala (76 off 84 balls).

In their second innings, Chhattisgarh finished on 24 for no loss at stumps, trailing by 118 runs, with Siddharth Chandrakar (5*) and Abhimanyu Chauhan (14*) at the crease. Opener Rishabh Tiwary retired hurt for one run after facing five balls.