Saxena takes ten for the match in draw

Offspinner Jalaj Saxena strove as hard as he could to hand Madhya Pradesh their first win of the tournament, but despite his 10 wickets in the match, Bengal held them to a draw at Eden Gardens.

Saxena took four wickets, including the top-three batsmen but Bengal, having been asked to follow-on, produced a sturdy batting performance, led by their top order again. The openers - Arindam Das, who scored a ton in the first innings and Rohan Banerjee held fort for more than 40 overs and their example was followed lower down by Wriddhiman Saha and Subhomoy Das, who was unbeaten on 59 when stumps was called.

Madhya Pradesh had amassed 431 on the back of Naman Ojha's 10th first-class century and Saxena ran through the lower order to bundle Bengal out for 263 after being 195 for 2.

Spectacular batting collapses from both teams notwithstanding, Services wicketkeeper Nakul Verma's maiden first-class century ushered their match against Rajasthan to a draw in Delhi.

Spinners Koteswar Rao and Rajat Palliwal snared six wickets on the final day, including centurion Robin Bist for 134, as Rajasthan slumped from a commanding 393 for 3 to 424 all out. Only two players - Ashok Menaria and No. 9 Rituraj Singh - were able to reach double figures on the day. Services returned the favour in their second innings, as Pankaj Singh added two more to his five-wicket haul from the first innings to leave Services at 9 for 3.

But an unbeaten 163-run stand for the fourth wicket between Verma and Yashpal Singh returned sanity to proceedings. Yashpal made a patient 57 and with the end of play nearing, the only point of concern was whether Verma would reach three figures.

Seamers Jaydev Unadkat and Abhishek Bhatt picked up seven wickets between them to bowl Uttar Pradesh out for 353, and help Saurashtra secure a first-innings lead in a drawn match in Rajkot.

UP, who began the day at 226 for 4, were buoyed by a century from Parvinder Singh, who hit 19 fours during his patient 110. But apart from a 46 from Arish Alam, Parvinder received little support from the other end as Unadkat and Bhatt ran through the middle and lower order. Bhatt finished with 4 for 49, while Unadkat picked up three wickets in a miserly spell.

The Saurashtra openers Chirag Pathak and Bhushan Chauhan batted out 23 overs in the second innings, putting up 53 before play ended.