Nair and Asnodkar break records

Services 33 for 1 trail Kerala 566 for 6 dec (Nair 306*, Jagadeesh 109) by 533 runs
Scorecard

Sreekumar Nair helped himself to an unbeaten triple-century - and won a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh (approximately US$2500) in the process - as Kerala posted a mammoth 566 for 6 declared against Services at Fort Maidan in Palakkad. With his 306*, Nair became the first Kerala batsman to score a first-class triple hundred, beating the previous best of 262 scored by Balan Pandit - perhaps the biggest name in Kerala cricket - against Andhra in 1959. Nair spent a little more than ten-and-a-half hours at the crease while hitting 37 boundaries. Services, meanwhile, faced with a mountain to climb, lost their opener Soomik Chatarjee early in reply before close.

Swapnil Asnodkar fell short of doing a Sreekumar Nair but still managed an unbeaten 254 and, with useful contributions from the tail, enabled Goa to post 535 for 9 before reducing Railways to 31 for 2. Asnodkar batted for more than 11 hours as he surpassed the 237 by VB Chandrasekhar - originally from Tamil Nadu but playing as a guest player - as Goa's highest first-class score and placing his team in a commanding position. The Goan total was also its highest in Ranji surpassing the previous record of 466-8 against Tripura at the same MCC grounds two seasons ago.

Gujarat 380 for 5 (Parthiv 158, Thaker 102*) lead Tripura 116 (Timil Patel 5-15) by 264 runs
Scorecard

Parthiv Patel's purple patch with the bat continued as he scored 158 and took Gujarat to 380 in response to Tripura's poor first-innings score of 116. Timil Patel, the legspinner, had spun a web around Tripura on the first day, and Gujarat's batsmen backed him up with a solid performance. However, it was not a one-man show from Parthiv as Bhavik Thaker became the second centurion of the innings, scoring an unbeaten 102 at No. 5, while Gujarat took control of the game.

Jharkhand 179 for 6 (Hashmi 50, Gupta 50*) trail Haryana 273 (Vishwanathan 60, Sahni 58) by 94 runs
Scorecard

Haryana extended their first innings long enough to put 273 on the board and then applied pressure on Jharkhand, restricting them to 179 for 6 and taking an edge in a match that was wide open when the second day began. Jharkhand got off to a horrific start, being reduced to 5 for 3 after the first three batsmen all bagged ducks. Amir Hashmi and Sunny Gupta then scored 50 apiece as Jharkhand staged a recovery but trailing by 94 at close, Jharkhand have some work to do before they can reach a position of safety.

Madhya Pradesh failed to cash in after bundling out Jammu and Kashmir for 281 in Jammu. MP looked in trouble at 64 for 4 before a 69-run partnership between Devendra Bundela and Rahul Bakshi. Bakshi fell for 38 but Bundela was unbeaten on 49, with his team needing another 123 runs to take the crucial first-innings lead. Earlier, the hosts lost five wickets for 51 runs, with Shantanu Pitre taking four of those to finish with figures of 6 for 6 off 25.2 overs.

Heavy rains in Guwahati ensured that there was no play on the second day after two-thirds of the first day's play was washed out. Playing against Vidarbha, Assam were only able to put on 65 in the 29 overs of play that were possible on the first day. Mohammad Hashim, the opening bowler, had Assam in trouble at 30 for 2 by picking up both wickets. Nishanta Bordoloi and Sadagoppan Ramesh then steadied the ship, settling down and ensuring no further wickets fell before rain led to play being called off after lunch.