Manan five-for knocks out Punjab

Manan Sharma extended his wickets tally to eight to add to his 77 in the first innings as Delhi knocked Punjab out in Patiala. Manan registered his second first-class five-wicket haul to rout Punjab for 88, after fifties from Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir had helped Delhi set a fourth-innings target of 179.

Punjab were reduced to 9 for 2 early in their chase with left-arm spinner Varun Sood dismissing the openers Jiwanjot Singh and Gitansh Khera. Mandeep Singh, Himanshu Chawla, Yuvraj Singh and Gurkeerat Singh all got starts, but none of them managed a substantial score and Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals. The game ended when Manan dismissed Sandeep Sharma to finish with figures of 5 for 31.

Resuming on an overnight 48 for 0, Chand and Gambhir stretched the opening partnership to 110 before Gurkeerat broke the stand by bowling Chand for 56. Thereafter, Harbhajan Singh struck twice in two balls to remove Varun Sood (6) and Milind Kumar (0), and the Delhi innings went into free-fall. Sandeep, Harbhajan and Gurkeerat collected three wickets each as Delhi lost their last six wickets for 68 runs.

Vidarbha 114 and 274 for 6 (f/o) (Jangid 66, Shrivastava 54, Joseph 3-40) lead Maharashtra 342 (Bawne 100*, Gugale 76) by 46 runs
Scorecard

Maharashtra took further steps towards booking a knockout berth by taking six Vidarbha wickets in the second innings, and limiting their lead to 46 runs in Pune. Placed fourth after wins were registered by Delhi and Gujarat in the other Group B games, a win from Maharashtra, even without a bonus point, will take them to second place.

Following on and trailing by 202 runs, Vidarbha started the day on 26 for 0 and had their top order rocked by medium-pacer Domnic Joseph. He first bowled Sachin Katariya for 12, had Ganesh Satish caught behind for a duck two balls later, and came back later to remove a well-set Faiz Fazal for 41 with a return catch. Fazal and S Badrinath had put on 49 for the third wicket and had started to rebuild before Joseph's third wicket, and Badrinath fell soon at the score of 83.

Vidarbha did rebuild later on as Shalabh Shrivastava and Ravi Jangid struck fifties in a reviving stand of 94 runs in only 20 overs. Jangid scored a patient 66 off 152 deliveries while Shrivastava struck a quick 54 off 58 with nine fours. Offspinner Chirag Khurana broke the stand with the wicket of Shrivastava and Jangid was caught off Samad Fallah.

Useful lower-order contributions from Urvesh Patel (44*) and Shrikant Wagh (23*) made sure Vidarbha did not collapse again, but with a lead of only 46 runs and four wickets in hand, Maharashtra look to be closing in on the win. Vidarbha are currently above Gujarat but have the same number points - 24 - and will have to end with a better quotient, if they lose, to qualify with Delhi and Maharashtra. In the unlikely case of a draw, Vidarbha and Gujarat will go through along with Delhi.

Odisha 88 and 128 for 2 (Sarangi 49*, Podder 41*) need 155 runs to beat Saurashtra 218 and 152 (Pujara 39, Deepak 3-29, Mohanty 3-35, Mangaraj 3-51)
Scorecard

Odisha made steady progress despite early stutters towards their chase of 283 on the third day in Cuttack in a bid to avoid relegation. A win or a draw will keep Odisha safe while Saurashtra need to win to overtake Odisha in the points table and hence save themselves from relegation.

Saurashtra were stuttering at 64 for 6 in the second innings, and stretched their lead of 194 to 282 with the help of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (24), Jaydev Unadkat (18) and an unbeaten 39 from Cheteshwar Pujara, who came out to bat at No. 9. After Jadeja was bowled by Basant Mohanty, Unadkat and Pujara took the score past 100 with a stand of 53 runs. And once Unadkat was run out, Pujara's patient knock made sure Odisha were chasing a challenging total.

In reply, Odisha lost their openers within three overs to Sudeep Tyagi and Siddharth Trivedi. However, Govinda Podder (41*) and Anurag Sarangi (49*) steered them to a comfortable 128 for 2, needing another 155 on the last day.