Pant blitz helps Delhi take lead against Rajasthan

A century from Chirag Khurana and three wickets from the in-form Anupam Sanklecha left Maharashtra in a dominant position against Assam at the IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai. Khurana, who began the day batting on 14, finished unbeaten on 112 as he helped Maharashtra's last five wickets add 190 to their overnight total. They were eventually bowled out for 542. Khurana stretched his overnight partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Vishant More (48) from 25 to 124, and added a further 68 with Sanklecha for the eighth wicket. Abu Nechim Ahmed and Syed Mohammad were Assam's most successful bowlers, picking up three wickets apiece.

Sanklecha - who picked up two seven-fors in his most recent game, against Vidarbha - then came back and ripped out three wickets to leave Assam 13 for 2 and then 56 for 3, before the opener Rishav Das (53*) added an unbroken 76 for the fourth wicket with Kunal Saikia (38*) to steer them to 132 for 3 at stumps, still trailing by 410.

Rishabh Pant continued his run of form, scoring a rapid half-century to help Delhi take the first-innings lead against Rajasthan in Wayanad. Resuming on 37 for 0, Delhi were bowled out for 307, with seamers Pankaj Singh and Tanvir Ul-Haq taking three wickets each. Rajasthan ended the day 19 for 1 in their second innings and trailing by 50.

Delhi's openers stretched their overnight partnership to 52 before both fell in the space of four balls, Gautam Gambhir for 10 and Shikhar Dhawan for 38. Unmukt Chand (32) and Nitish Rana (24) added 51 for the third wicket, before Pant walked in at No. 5 and proceeded to score 75 of Delhi's next 93 runs. He was fifth out with Delhi still trailing by 42, having scored his runs off 59 balls, with nine fours and three sixes. Delhi lost two more quick wickets and were 204 for 7 before Milind Kumar (42) and Sumit Narwal (34 off 25) steered them into the lead with a 54-run eighth-wicket stand. With Vikas Tokas (18) and Nitin Saini (16*) making useful contributions as well, Delhi stretched their lead to 69.

Half-centuries from Biplab Samantray and Saurabh Rawat hauled Odisha out of a tight spot and into a sizeable lead against Karnataka at the Palam ground in Delhi. Replying to Karnataka's 179, Odisha were 140 for 6 when wicketkeeper Rawat joined Samantray. They proceeded to add 106 for the seventh wicket in 34.4 overs before Samantray was out to the legspinner Shreyas Gopal for 58.

Shreyas then dismissed Suryakant Pradhan (23) and Rawat, for 85 off 124 balls, to end the day with figures of 5 for 73. Odisha were 318 for 9 at stumps, leading by 139, with Basant Mohanty and Alok Mangaraj adding an unbroken 26 for the last wicket.

A 171-run opening stand between Sanjay Ramaswamy and Faiz Fazal moved Vidarbha within sight of taking the first-innings lead against Saurashtra at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. At stumps, Vidarbha were 242 for 3, trailing by 59.

Saurashtra had to wait till the 59th over of the day to taste any success, and used nine bowlers. Eventually, it was the part-timer Prerak Mankad who had Sanjay lbw for 77 to claim his first wicket in his third first-class match. Another part-timer, Amitoze Singh, then dismissed Fazal for 94, before the offspinner Vandit Jivranjani, sent back Ganesh Satish to have Vidarbha 223 for 3. Shalabh Shrivastava (31*) and Jitesh Sharma (6* off 41) saw out the rest of the day, putting on an unbroken partnership of 19 in 13.4 overs.