Baroda eye big win after Yusuf ton

Yusuf Pathan scored his eighth first-class century on a day when 15 wickets went down, to set Baroda on course for their first victory of the season, over Madhya Pradesh in Vadodara. 14 of those wickets were taken by spinners.

Offspinner Jalaj Saxena ran rampant on the Baroda batting-line up, accounting for seven scalps and recording his best innings-haul in first-class cricket. Six Baroda batsmen were dismissed for single figures and Saxena took credit for four of them, finishing with 7 for 82. Yusuf, however, proved the decisive factor. Coming in at No. 6, he laced five sixes and six fours during his 101-ball 104. The next best contribution was 28, by opener Aditya Wagmode, as Baroda made 244, securing a lead of 336 runs.

Madhya Pradesh's chase began slowly, as they lost Saxena in the fourth over and their progress was regularly stalled by wickets. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt was the pick of the Baroda bowlers, finishing with 3 for 25, while Ketul Patel chipped in with a couple of wickets as the visitors ended day two staring at a deficit of 279, with only 5 wickets in hand.

Uttar Pradesh seamer Amit Mishra recorded his maiden five-wicket haul to help his side gain the ascendancy in their match against Rajasthan in Jaipur.

Opener Siddharth Saraf endeavoured to provide a semblance of stability to Rajasthan as he battled for 191 balls. His patient 56 included 10 fours, as he partnered with captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar to add 70 runs for the third wicket. Their hard work was undone as Mishra claimed six of the top seven batsmen. Ramesh Powar provided a useful cameo, scoring 32, but Mishra and Ali Murtaza bundled Rajasthan out for 185.

Uttar Pradesh lost their openers inside eight overs, but Mohammad Kaif, the captain, and Prashant Gupta remained unbeaten at the crease, with the score at 42.

Saurashtra 12 for 1 trail Tamil Nadu 565 for 8 dec (Abhinav 240, Karthik 133, Unadkat 4-99) by 553 runs
Scorecard

Saurashtra chased leather for the second day in succession, on a pitch that had flattened out considerably at Chepauk. Abhinav Mukund occupied the crease for a marathon 240 and, along with Dinesh Karthik, who scored a brisk 133, took Tamil Nadu to their second first-innings score in excess of 500 this season.

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Allrounder Saurasish Lahiri made full use of a lifeless track, scoring a century which propelled Bengal to a respectable first innings score of 431 in 166.2 overs against Services, in the Group B encounter in Palam.

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