Parthiv Patel helps Gujarat to first-innings points

Gujarat 263 for 4 (Parthiv 105, Niraj 58) lead Hyderabad 236 (Rayudu 60, Anirudh 61, Quadri 52, Trivedi 5-39) by 27 runs
Scorecard

Wicketkeeper-captain Parthiv Patel led from the front with a scintillating century as Gujarat pocketed first-innings points against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Right-arm fast bowler Siddharth Trivedi finished with a five-for as the home team could add 27 to their overnight score of 209 for 7. After Alfred Absolem had sent back the Gujarat openers during the reply, Parthiv and Niraj Patel took control with a 135-run stand for the third wicket. Parthiv struck eight fours and a six during his 142-ball stay, but fell shortly after Gujarat had taken the lead. Bhavik Thaker and Digant Popat were the two not out batsmen as Gujarat ended with a slender lead with six wickets in hand.

Punjab 228 (Dharmani 83) and 114 for 5 trail Tamil Nadu 521 for 9 dec (Vijay 148, Dinesh Karthik 117, Mukund 61, Ladda 4-144) by 179 runs
Scorecard

Tamil Nadu were on course for a win against Punjab after a brilliant all-round performance in Amritsar. Captain Dinesh Karthik led from front with a brilliant hundred, which helped the visitors post a huge 293-run first innings lead as they declared on 521 for 9, after resuming at 340 for 6. Karthik batted beautifully with support from the lower order - his century comprising 13 boundaries. He found able allies in Chandrasekar Ganapathy (44) and Ravinchandran Aswhin (22) and took the hosts beyond 500. They then had Punjab struggling at 114 for 5 as Aushik Srinivas and Ravinchandran Ashwin dented the top order. Pankaj Dharmani and Gaurav Gambhir were at the crease, and the will aim to avoid an innings defeat first up.

Himachal Pradesh 246 (Thakkar 88, Abdulla 4-48, Harmeet 4-89) and 4 for 0 need 248 runs to beat Mumbai 162 (Malik 6-33) and 335 for 7 dec (Agarkar 102*, Jaffer 54, Abdullah 52, Rahane 50)
Scorecard

A much-improved batting performance in the second essay kept Mumbai's hopes alive against Himachal Pradesh at the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Ajit Agarkar was their star with a confident unbeaten century, as Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer weighed in with solid half-centuries. Agarkar, who scored seven fours and a six during his 194-ball innings had good support from Iqbal Abdullah, who scored a well-paced half-century, coming in at No. 9. The two put on an unbeaten stand of 91, to set Himachal a target of 252. HP negotiated the one over in the day, to take stumps at 4 for no loss. A tantalising day is on the cards tomorrow.

Railways 297 for 8 (Cheluvaraj 88, Rawat 33*, Upadhyay 45*, Mohanty 3-40) v Orissa
Scorecard

Overnight rain ruled out play in Bhubaneswar as the umpires called off the day's play after five pitch inspections.

Baroda 234 (Irfan 59, Solanki 58, Chawla 4-47) and 60 for 3 lead Uttar Pradesh 240 (Chawla 65, Munaf 4-61) by 54 runs
Scorecard

If Piyush Chawla was Uttar Pradesh's star the previous day with the ball, his well-compiled fifty ensured they took first-innings points against Baroda in a nervy first-innings reply. Irfan Pathan worked with Munaf Patel in tandem to wreck UP's top order, condemning them to 89 for 5 from their overnight score of 36 for no loss. But Chawla's vigilant effort, and a 44-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Praveen Gupta, proved crucial as they nosed ahead. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was on song during Baroda's second innings, picking up all three wickets that fell, as Baroda's lead increased to 54.

Karnataka 523 for 9 (Verma 157, Pawan 134, Gautam 108, Lahiri 5-157) lead Bengal 324 (Banerjee 107, Tiwary 78) by 199 runs
Scorecard

KB Pawan and Amit Verma hit classy hundreds, and wicketkeeper Muralidharen Gautam followed up the act as Karnataka took an emphatic lead against Bengal in Mysore. Resuming on 186 for 2, Karnataka steadily closed in on Bengal's first-innings score of 326 with the overnight batsmen, Pawan and Verma piling up 249. While Pawan finished with 14 fours and a six, Verma smashed 17 boundaries. Both batsmen were sent back by Ranadeb Bose, as Bengal looked for a way back through Saurasish Lahiri's five-for. But Gautam, playing his fifth first-class match, rose to the occasion, hitting 14 fours en route to his hundred, as the hosts finished on 523 for 9.

Maharashtra 266 for 7 (Bhosale 82) trail Saurashtra 544 for 3 dec (Pujara 204*, Jadeja 122*, Pathak 90, Kotak 103) by 278 runs
Scorecard

It was slow going for bottom-placed Maharashtra as they looked to avoid a first-innings deficit against Saurashtra in Rajkot. But the persistency of the home team bowlers paid off, as they picked up seven Maharashtra wickets in the day after they had resumed on 53 for 1. Rohan Bhosale held firm at the top of the order with a fluent fifty but it was the left-arm spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Rakesh Dhruv who picked up two wickets apiece to tighten the noose on Maharashtra with over 250 still to get.