Bose's seven-for rocks Hyderabad

Bengal 200 and 72 for 2 need 114 more runs to beat Hyderabad 309 and 76 (Bose 7-25)
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A seven-wicket haul by seamer Ranadeb Bose gave Bengal the opportunity for an outright victory, after Hyderabad capitulated for a paltry 76 at Uppal. Bose finished with figures of 7 for 25, giving very little away in his 20 overs. Earlier, the momentum was clearly with Hyderabad after seamer Alfred Absolem's five-wicket haul gave them a valuable 109-run lead. Chasing 186, Bengal lost two early wickets, both to medium pacer Praneet Arjun, before Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Manoj Tiwary took the score to 72 at stumps.

Delhi 355 and 160 for 3 (Manhas 86*, Dhawan 53*) lead Andhra 209 (Reddy 71*, Sharma 4-46) by 306 runs
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A sound allround effort put Delhi in command against Andhra at Vijayawada, after the home side were bundled out for 209 in their first innings. Andhra's Prasad Reddy resisted with an obdurate 71 and shared a 57-run stand with Syed Sahabuddin but once their sixth-wicket stand was broken, the Andhra innings folded up. Only three batsmen managed to cross double figures, as Ishant Sharma picked up four wickets and Amit Bhandari mopped up the tail. Delhi then extended their lead to 306 with seven second-innings wickets in hand, boosted by half-centuries by Shikhar Dhawan and Mithun Manhas, who raced to an aggressive 86.

Tamil Nadu 207 (Vijay 48, Joshi 4-53) and 130 for 3 (Prasanna 59) trail Karnataka 426 by 89 runs
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Tamil Nadu's hopes of staving off relegation hung on a slim thread as they fought to avoid an innings defeat against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. When they began the day at 119 for 4 in their first innings there was still hope for Tamil Nadu, with S Sharath and M Vijay at the crease. But Vijay was lbw to Sunil Joshi for 48 early on the third day, and from there it was all downhill. Sharath made 18 and R Ashwin 46, but Tamil Nadu could only muster 207. Asked to follow-on they began badly, losing openers S Aniruddha, lbw to Vinay Kumar, and Vijay, with only 22 on the board. A mini recovery took Tamil Nadu past 100 but KP Appanna trapped R Prasanna (59) lbw and Tamil Nadu were 112 for 3. They managed to go through to close without further loss, but at 130 for 3, trailing by 89 runs, Tamil Nadu are still in deep trouble.

Maharashtra 296 for 4 (Khadiwale 73, Takawale 57) trail Gujarat 369 by 73 runs
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Maharashtra, slowly but steadily in pursuit of Gujarat's first-innings 369, reached 296 for 4 from 123 overs at the end of the third day of their match at the Golf Club Ground in Nasik. Beginning the day on 72 for 1, Maharashtra were powered by Harshad Khadiwale, the 18-year-old opening batsman, who spent nearly ten hours at the crease for 73. He was helped along by Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the captain, who chipped in with 45. In fact, other than Dhiraj Jadhav, who was dismissed on the second day, all the batsmen contributed. Yogesh Takawale made 57 before being caught behind off Ashraf Makda, while Sridharan Sriram was unbeaten on 53. Maharashtra still trail by 73 runs, but the vital first-innings lead and two points look well within reach.

Rajasthan 259 for 7 (Khoda 65, Jadeja 49*) trail Mumbai 483 by 69 runs
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Rajasthan were staring at an outright loss against Mumbai when they ended the third day still needing 69 runs to avoid an innings defeat with only three wickets in hand. After being bowled out for only 155 and conceding a lead of 328, Rajasthan were up against it, but they put in a far better performance in their second dig. Despite losing Vikram Solanki for a duck they managed to stabilise the innings, thanks mainly to half-centuries from Gagan Khoda and Rahul Kanwat. But Mumbai's spinners got into the act as Nilesh Kulkarni with three wickets, and Ramesh Powar, with two, put the skids on the innings. Only Ajay Jadeja, unbeaten on 49, stands between Mumbai and victory, with just three wickets needed when the final day begins.

Haryana 308 and 82 for 7 (Jadeja 3-16) lead Saurashtra 268 (Jadeja 48) by 122 runs
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Saurasthra recovered from a precarious position through a strong bowling performance and restricted Haryana to 82 for 7 in their second innings after conceding a first-innings lead of 40 runs. From their overnight 134 for 5 Saurashtra spurred on to 268, thanks to Ravinder Jadeja (48) and Rakesh Dhruv (34), who added vital runs in the lower middle-order. It was again this pair that combined to do the damage when Haryana came out to bat in their second essay. Jadeja picked up 3 for 16 and Dhruv 3 for 30 as Haryana were reduced to 82 for 7. There was barely a partnership of note, and only Nitin Saini, with 27 at the top of the order, made it past 20. The overall lead for Haryana was 122, and the game is interestingly poised going into the final day, with both teams still in with a chance of forcing a win.