Umang Sharma's ton extends UP's advantage

Umang Sharma struck his first century of the season as Uttar Pradesh built on their first-innings lead against Assam to end the day 260 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand in Guwahati. Assam had started the day on 279 for 6, still 70 behind UP's 349 in the first innings. Overnight batsmen Pallvkumar Das and Swarupam Purkayastha extended their stand to 61, before Suresh Raina broke the partnership by getting Pallavkumar with the score on 298. Purkayastha fell soon after, becoming left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar's fifth wicket. Assam were eventually bowled out for 318.

Umang then put on 46 for the opening stand Abhishek Goswami (14), 84 for the second wicket with the promoted Raina (33) and an unbroken 99 for the third with Mohammad Saif (38*) as he dominated the scoring, making 131 of the 229 they got. Umang's knock contained 16 fours and a six.

Fifties from opener Shivakant Shukla, debutant Pratham Singh, and Nitin Bhille led Railways' response to Maharashtra's 481 in Pune. The visitors reached 330 for 5 at stumps with Arindam Ghosh (44*) set to become the fourth half-centurion in the innings.

Resuming on 88 for 1, Railways suffered an early setback when they lost Saurabh Wakaskar in the second over of the day. Shukla, Pratham, and Bhille then steadied the innings, pushing the score beyond 200. Pratham and captain Mahesh Rawat fell late in the day, but Ghosh and Manish Rao took the team to stumps without any further damage. Offspinner Chirag Khurana was the pick of the bowlers for Maharashtra taking 2 for 50 in 17 overs.