Bengal primed for second straight win

Tripura 88 and 111 for 5 (Shetty 46*, Bose 2-28) trail Bengal 307 (Tiwary 109, Ghosh 50, Shukla 48, Debnath 3-74, Saha 3-95) by 108 runs
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Bengal appear set for their second straight victory in Group B. They took a first-innings lead of 219, thanks to Manoj Tiwary's century, and had taken half of Tripura's second-innings wickets by stumps.

Tiwary and Arindam Ghosh resumed at 138 for 2, and added 13 before Ghosh fell on 50. Tiwary went on from 82 to 109 before he was trapped lbw by offspinner Jayanta Debnath. A partnership between Laxmi Shukla (48) and Wriddhiman Saha (26) followed, but quick wickets reduced Bengal to 264 for 8. Ritam Kundu pushed Bengal passed 300 with an unbeaten 30. Left-arm spinner Tushar Saha and Debnath shared six wickets - all of Saha's were lbws.

Ranadeb Bose, who took five in the first innings, then struck twice as Tripura slumped to 34 for 4. Nishit Shetty, the top scorer in Tripura's first innings, once again held fort. He put on 71 with Abhijit Dey (37), who was dismissed late in the day by Kundu.

Tiwary, who scored his sixth Ranji was delighted with his effort. "Yeah, I am happy," he said. "The confidence for a good innings was always there but I was missing the touch. Now it's in my grasp. I hope to carry this on."

"I was upset after I failed to achieve my targets. But I was trying. I worked hard and was knocking the ball well in the nets and knew that the form will surely be back soon."

Jharkhand 60 for 1 trail Himachal Pradesh 551 for 8 dec (Sangram Singh 210, Thakkar 166, Sharma 56*) by 491 runs
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The runs did not flow as easily on the second day as they had on the first in Ranchi. Himachal Pradesh, resuming on 387 for 1, added 164 in 61 overs - a rate far less than their four an over on the first day. They declared on 551 for 8, and Jharkhand reduced the deficit by 60, losing one wicket in the process, in their 26.2 overs.

Sangram Singh and Bhavin Thakkar didn't add much to the overnight scores, and it was left to Mukesh Sharma and Ajay Mannu to take them past 500. Jharkhand lost Subroto Ghosh in the first over of their innings, but Manish Vardhan and Ishank Jaggi batted cautiously to ensure there were no further hiccups.

Goa 190 (Ratra 51, Asnodkar 47, Billa 5-72) trail Haryana 287 (Dewan 52, Sunny Singh 50, Mishra 49, Bandekar 5-72, Robin D'Souza 3-68) by 97 runs
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Jitender Tarsemlal Billa's five-wicket haul gave Haryana a handy first-innings lead in their Group A match in Rohtak. Goa quickly wrapped up Haryana's first innings, taking the final three wickets in five overs, but conceded a substantial first-innings lead after their top order imploded.

Saurabh Bandekar took the final two wickets - completing a five-for - as Haryana added only 12 to their overnight 275, but three strikes from Billa seized back the advantage. Billa struck on the first two deliveries of the innings, both leg-befores, and added a third in his next over. The first three wickets had fallen with no runs on board.

Swapnil Asnodkar, the Goa captain and opener, led a recovery with wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra. The two added 98 before Billa struck again, removing Ratra for 51. Swapnil, who hit the limelight with his aggressive batting during the IPL, was far more patient during his 48. Rohit Asnodkar was even more so, scoring 21 off 112 balls. However, the other batsmen failed to push the scoring, and Goa eventually fell 97 runs short on the first innings.

Goa coach, Dodda Ganesh, however, was optimistic of Goa turning it around on the third day. "In cricket, nothing can be predicted until the last ball is bowled. If we bowl them out early, we still can go for victory" he told the Times of India.

Jammu & Kashmir 184 and 26 for 1 trail Kerala 299 (Prem 124*, Nizam 4-47) by 89 runs
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A tenth-wicket partnership of 123 helped Kerala gain a 115-run lead over Jammu & Kashmir at Fort Maidan in Palakkad. A slender lead looked on the cards for the visitors after they prised out wickets regularly - Kerala had resumed on 72 for 2 - but No. 5 Preambhastn Prem got support from Tinu Yohannan, who had taken a 5 for 43 on the opening day.

Prem went on to score his second century of the tournament - he was unbeaten on 124 - while Yohannan made a stubborn 87-ball 32. The partnership lasted more than 30 overs, and was ended by Ahmed Nizam, who cleaned up the lower order during his spell of 14.5-1-47-4. Kerala then bagged one wicket in Jammu & Kashmir's second innings; the visitors scored 26 in ten overs.

Services 107 for 5 (Golwalkar 3-21) trail Madhya Pradesh 223 (Dholpure 59, Pitre 46, Nadkarni 3-30, Rakesh Kumar 3-53) by 116 runs
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It is going to be a close battle between Group B leaders Madhya Pradesh and bottom-placed Services for the first-innings lead in Delhi. Madhya Pradesh, whose lower-order's efforts had boosted them to 196 for 9 after a poor start on the first day, closed their innings on 223. Shantanu Pitre added ten to his overnight 36, while No. 11 Yogesh Golwalkar was unbeaten on 29 not out.

Golwalkar then struck vital blows with the ball. His three strikes saw Services slip to 79 for 5, Sunil Dholpure and Shantanu Pitre took the other wickets. However, Sarabjit Singh and Abhimanyu Singh took Services to 107 at stumps without further loss; they need 117 more to gain the first-innings lead.

Vidarbha 114 for 3 (Paradkar 38*, Mali 2-29) trail Assam 299 (Martin 71, Purkayastha 51, Acharya 3-50, Yadav 3-58, Hashim 3-79) by 185 runs
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Gaining the first-innings lead will also be Vidarbha's primary goal in Nagpur. Assam, resuming at 183 for 4, were kept to 299. Vidarbha lost two wickets cheaply in reply, but they moved to a more comfortable 114 for 3 by stumps.

Vidarbha's Mohammad Hashim dismissed Jacob Martin, resuming on 77, early on the second day, but Sarupam Purkayastha took charge of the innings. He added 51 with Mrigen Talukdar (18) before falling for 51. No. 9 Arnald Konwar made 26 to boost the team's total. For Vidarbha, opener Madhusudan Acharya made 33, while Ranjit Paradkar and Shalabh Shrivastava were unbeaten on 38 and 24 at close.