Mumbai 504 for 6 dec (Jaffer 143, Mazumdar 115, Kambli 86) and 25 for 0 drew with Andhra 298 (MSK Prasad 72)
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Andhra put up a stiff resistance at Vijayawada and Mumbai had to be content with two points - for the first-innings lead - in their Elite A encounter. MSK Prasad added only four runs to his overnight score, but Hemal Watekar, Ganapathirao Srinivas and Gnaneswara Rao swallowed up valuable time to foil Mumbai's bid to force the issue. After they were bowled out, the Mumbai openers scored 25 runs in 19 overs as the match petered out to its inevitable conclusion.

The first two days were about Mumbai's highly rated batting rattling up a huge total. Wasim Jaffer and Amol Mazumdar cracked hundreds and Vinod Kambli added a breezy 86 as the Andhra bowlers were flogged to all corners of the ground.

Delhi 264 for 5 (Bhatia 75, Jadeja 54) and 310 (Manhas 129, Varun Kumar 50, Gagandeep Singh 5-55) drew with Punjab385 (Yuvraj 138, Dharmani 79)
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After dominating the first two days, Punjab came away with only two points as Delhi put up a solid batting performance at Chandigarh. Rajat Bhatia's 75 stood out, while Ajay Jadeja had his first decent knock of he season. Partnerships were constantly built during the day, and Punjab's lack of penetration finally cost them.

The Delhi first innings saw Mithun Manhas stroke a fluent hundred, but the rest fell to Gagandeep Singh's five-wicket burst. Yuvraj Singh and Pankaj Dharmani shared a huge partnership as Punjab gained the upper hand. But the batsmen lost their way on the third day, and Delhi restricted the damage to only two points.

Bengal 250 and 246 (Shukla 82, Haldipur 67) drew with Assam 347 (Saravanan 123, Sukhvinder 115*) and 130 for 4 (Sathish 74)
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Assam fell just 20 runs short of their target of 150, thereby squandering the chance to record an outright victory at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. R Sathish led the chase with a whirlwind 74 off just 59 balls, but it was still not quite enough.

Assam's batsmen were in fine fettle in the first innings, with Vasanth Saravanan and Sukhvinder Singh slamming centuries. The Bengal batsmen also had their moments, but none of them carried on to make a big score. Shib Paul - who is having a great season with the ball - was the pick of the Bengal bowlers.

Tamil Nadu 372 (Sharath 155, Vidyut 50) and 208 for 5 (Viswanathan 56*, Vidyut 68, Ganesh Kumar 55*) drew with Gujarat 323 (Christian 112, Parmar 82, Patel 51, Ramkumar 5-66)
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Tamil Nadu's strong batting efforts were rewarded with only two points in the Elite B fixture against Gujarat. The final day had three half-centuries as the highlights, although the outcome of the match was a foregone conclusion.

Gujarat put their best foot forward with Akash Christian and Mukund Parmar leading them away from danger. R Ramkumar was the most successful TN bowler with a rich haul of five wickets. The first two days belonged to Sridharan Sharath, for the tenacious century that propelled TN to a strong position.

Hyderabad 177 and 309 (Manohar 57, Khaleel 72*) beat Karnataka 100 (Narender Pal 6-31) and 89 (Faiz 6-29) by 297 runs
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Karnataka's batting misery continued as they collapsed in a heap for the second time in the match allowing Hyderabad, the hosts, to romp home by 297 runs. Chasing 387 for victory, Karnataka were blown away by Faiz Ahmed, the left-arm medium-pacer, who had magical figures of 6 for 29.

Hyderabad's 177 on the first day was a batting failure, but Karnataka fared even worse when they batted. Narender Pal Singh exposed their techniques with a six-wicket haul to put Hyderabad in a comfortable position - then their batsmen gave a much better account of themselves second time around, with Daniel Manohar and Ibrahim Khaleel hitting fighting half-centuries. But a target of 387 was too much, and the batting fell apart for a second time.

Railways 208 and 137 (Bangar 51) beatUttar Pradesh 71 (Parida 5-18) and 122 (Parida 5-47) by 152 runs
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Kulamani Parida's offspin proved too hot for UP as Railways recorded a crushing victory at Varanasi. At 100 for 4, chasing 275, UP seemed on course for their first victory of the season, but Parida's magic resulted in the last six batsmen tumbling for only 22. Earlier Jai Prakash Yadav (37) and Shreyas Khandolkar (30) had put Railways in the driving seat.

The entire match was a low-scoring affair, with all the batsmen struggling to find their feet. Sanjay Bangar's half-century was the only score above 20 in the Railways first innings, in which Ashish Zaidi (4-36) produced a sharp spell. UP were blown away for only 71 in their first innings, as Parida began spinning his web.

Kerala 231 (Hemanth Kumar 66) and 337 for 9 (Somasundar 93, Nair 86, Deepak 53) drew with Baroda 411 (RA Parab 104, Patel 67) by 85 runs
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Sujit Somasundar and Sree Kumar Nair scored patient half-centuries as Baroda gathered first-innings points at Vadodara. There was also a valuable 53 by Cheruvillilil Deepak, the wicketkeeper, who put on 151 with Somasundar and used up some valuable time. Rakesh Patel and Shekhar Joshi finished with three wickets apiece for Kerala, but in the end it counted for little.

Baroda rode on Hrishikesh Parab's responsible hundred, and Patel's 67 and a few plucky 40s enabled them to finish 180 ahead of the Kerala first-innings total. Kerala's batting owed much to Hemanth Kumar's half-century - a lone flicker of hope in a faltering effort.

Plate Championship 2nd Round

Orissa 204 (Parida 81, Behara 62) and 219 for 9 (Parida 70, Behara 57) drew with Maharashtra 77 (Mohanty 5-24) and 439 for 8 dec (Jhadav 200, Aphale 100)
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Only one wicket separated Maharashtra from maximum points at Cuttack in their Plate B encounter against Orissa. Orissa's batting script today followed a similar pattern to the first innings, as Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Subrat Behara again made half-centuries. Charudatta Kulkarni bowled a fine spell (3 for 23), but Maharashtra couldn;t quite claim that vital last wicket.

Maharashtra had begun the match amid the controversy regarding Abhijit Kale. They collapsed in a heap on the first morning, with Debasis Mohanty running amok with a deadly spell. But the second-innings story was the complete opposite, as Dheeraj Jhadav smashed 200 and Kaushik Aphale a round hundred to set Orissa a target of 313 in the final innings.

Haryana 461 for 6 dec (Ganda 95, Sharma 74, Rawat 68, Sunny 67) and 110 for 2 (Sunny 61) drew with Tripura 325 (Roy 118, Sachdev 67*, Dhand 55, Sahu 6-96)
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After T Roy's fine hundred at Rohtak yesterday led the Tripura fightback, the prize today was the first-innings lead. Haryana's P Sahu ensured that his team took the two points, as the last seven Tripura batsmen caved in for just 68. Haryana then pottered about for 36 overs until play was finally called off.

Haryana had dominated the first two days, with six batsmen recording half-centuries. The Tripura bowling was ragged in both innings, and they had Roy to thank for salvaging a draw.

Vidharbha 387 (Deshpande 126, Vivek Naidu 100, Alind Naidu 50) and 250 for 3 (Deshpande 80, Paradkar 66, Londase 64) drew with Madhya Pradesh 327 (Ojha 79, Bundela 85)
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The Vidharbha batsmen ground the bowling all day at Indore and gained first-innings honours against MP in their Plate A tie. AV Deshpande continued his great form with a fine 80 in the face of a largely toothless MP attack - barring Narendra Hirwani, who claimed three wickets.

Madhusudhan Acharya's 4 for 84 had earlier played a vital role in gaining Vidharbha a 60-run lead on the third day. Devendra Bundela shone brightly for MP, but the first-innings lead was squandered. The Vidharbha batting was all about Deshpande and the two Naidus, Vivek and Alind, who contributed valuable knocks.

Services 212 and 179 (Reddy 55, Jakati 6-42) beat Goa 142 (Ghag 6-34) and 171 by 78 runs
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Sudhakar Ghag and Arun Sharma took four wickets apiece as Services recorded a comprehensive 78-run victory over Goa at Panjim. Rajesh Naik and Somashekar Shiraguppi passed 40 for Goa, but the rest of the batting lacked application.

Ghag and Shadab Jakati were the heroes in a match where ball dominated over the bat. Ghag destroyed Goa in their first innings, but then Jakati brought Goa back into the match with six wickets of his own. Yet the Goa batsmen failed to chase 250 on the final day, and the visitors took four points.

Jammu & Kashmir 115 (Shahid Khan 7-25) and 217 for 5 (Gupta 51*, Vijay Sharma 61*) beat Bihar 172 (Dhoni 64) and 159 by 5 wickets
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Ashwani Gupta and Vijay Sharma put on 83 without being parted as J&K cruised home against Bihar by five wickets at Jammu. Sharma turned on the heat as he blasted 61 in 65 balls with nine fours and a six. Shahid Khan - the first-innings hero - was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 42, but he couldn't prevent J&K's first win of the season.

Shahid raised visions of a Bihar victory on the second day when he shot out J&k for a meagre 115. But Bihar failed to capitalise on the momentum and failed with the bat themselves in both innings, the lone exception being MS Dhoni, who made a gritty 64.