Pankaj gets Rajasthan off to winning start

Rajasthan 228 (Khoda 106) and 256 (Saxena 103, Nechim 5-57, Konwar 4-72) beat Assam 189 (Aziz 53, Pankaj 4-44, Yadav 4-28) and 200 (Pankaj 7-64) by 95 runs
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Pankaj Singh picked up 7 for 64 during Assam's chase as Rajasthan put aside their off-the-field troubles to take full points in Guwahati. Madhur Khatri dealt Assam the first blow on the final day, sending back Dheeraj Jadhav for 16, with the hosts needing 294 to win. That opened the gates for Pankaj, who repeatedly dented Assam - an even better showing than his 4 for 44 in the first innings. The right-arm fast bowler was unstoppable as none of the batsmen managed to convert their starts, with Parvez Aziz top scoring with 45. Assam captain Amol Muzumdar had reason to celebrate though, becoming the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, courtesy his 25 in the second innings.

Goa 474 (Ratra 121, Bandekar 100) and 203 (Wakhare 5-65) drew with Vidarbha 338 (Paunikar 98, Shrivastava 78, Paradkar 72) and 83 for 1
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Akshay Wakhare's five-for might have come too late as Goa held on to first-innings points against Vidarbha in Nagpur. The offpsinner ran through the Goa top and middle orders before they declared on 203 for 8 in their second innings. First-innings centurion Saurabh Bandekar was the top scorer for Goa with 40 off 53 balls. The target of 340 was near impossible to achieve as Jayesh Dongaonkar and captain Alind Naidu saw Vidarbha through to the end of the day's play at 83 for 1.

Jharkhand 431 (Gautham 95*) and 167 for 3 (Sinha 76) drew with Tripura 438 (Shetty 104, Dutta 60*)
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Debabrata Chowdhury's half-century ensured crucial first-innings points for Tripura against Jharkhand in the drawn-game in Ranchi. Chowdhury added 44 to his overnight score of 34, taking Tripura's first-innings total to 438 - a narrow lead of seven. Opener Siddhartha Sinha gave Jharkhand a solid start in their second innings with 76 and they finally took stumps at 167 for 3. Jharkhand would look to make-up for the lost points when they take on Vidarbha on November 10.

Andhra 442 (Sahabuddin 120, Sumanth 117) and 46 for 0 (Watekar 21*, Reddy 18*) drew with Kerala 336 (Jagadeesh 50, Prem 91, Prasad 5-100)
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Girikina Prasad's five-for ensured Andhra grabbed first-innings against Kerala. Continuing from their overnight score of 208 for 6, Preambhastn Prem and Padmanbhan Prasanth battled valiantly, as the seventh-wicket stand yielded 82. Prem surrendered to Prasad nine short of his fifty, and the offspinner then proceeded to take out the last two batsmen to end with a well-deserved 5 for 100. Sitting pretty on a lead of 106, the Andhra openers, Hemal Watekar and Prasad Reddy, saw out the remaining 11 overs in the day without trouble.

Haryana 546 (Sunny 312, Sumeet 45) and 244 (Dewan 133, Rawat 100) drew with Madhya Pradesh 434 (Saxena 142, Kanitkar 72, Budhwar 4-116)
Scorecard

The runs continued to flow in Indore as the Haryana openers made merry after they had ensured first-innings points against Madhya Pradesh. Resuming on 364 for 7, still 182 behind Haryana's mammoth first-innings total, Sanjay Pandey's patient 46 only delayed the inevitable. He was the last wicket to fall, with the last three wickets contributing 70. Ahead by 112, Rahul Dewan and Ankit Rawat chose to extend Haryana's domination, smashing 133 and 100 respectively. While Dewan scored 20 fours during his 171-ball innings, Rawat managed nine fours and three sixes during his knock. The unbeaten 244-run partnership was the perfect icing to the three points Haryana gained.