Bist 84 puts Rajasthan in command

Madhya Pradesh 115 and 121 for 2 (Jalaj 65) trail Rajasthan 282 (Bist 84*, Pandey 4-92) by 46 runs
Scorecard

Ishwar Pandey and Nikhil Sawke restricted Rajasthan's first-innings lead to 167 on the second day in Gwalior before Madhya Pradesh's top order reduced the deficit to 46 with eight wickets in hand.

After resuming on 115 for 3, Rajasthan could not capitalise much on their start as none of their last seven batsmen scored more than 25. Only Robin Bist was left unbeaten on 84 which ensured they went past 250. Ashok Menaria was sent back in the seventh over of the day by Pandey, who struck again four overs later to dismiss Rajesh Bishnoi for 2. There were no more substantial partnerships until the ninth-wicket stand which followed the wickets of Dishant Yagnik and Ramesh Powar, both dismissed by Sawke to leave them at 187 for 8.

Deepak Chahar resisted briefly with 16, which featured three fours, but was caught behind off Pandey and Rajasthan were 210 for 8 as Bist brought up his 21st first-class fifty at the other end. Rituraj Singh and Bist put on 48 for the penultimate stand and took the lead past 100 before they were all out for 282. Pandey finished with 4 for 92, while Sawke picked up two wickets.

Even though MP were at a comfortable 121 for 2 at the end of the day after Jalaj Saxena's 65, they have a long way to go to first erase the deficit and set Rajasthan a competitive target.

Services 164 and 19 for 0 trail Uttar Pradesh 369 (Dwivedi 131, Digvijay 78, Mishra 46) by 186 runs
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Eklavya Dwivedi's second first-class hundred and Digvijay Singh's fifty gave Uttar Pradesh a massive 205-run lead against Services on the second day in Ghaziabad. Even though UP were 224 for 7 at one point, Dwivedi's century and a useful 46 from Amit Mishra at No. 9 took them to 369.

Digvijay, who replaced an out-of-form Tanmay Srivastava, more than doubled his overnight score of 36 after losing his partner Parvinder Singh for 27. Digvijay and Dwivedi's stand of 74 for fifth wicket took them one short of 200 before the former was bowled for 78. Piyush Chawla fell for a duck in the next over and Ali Murtaza also fell soon enough to put UP in a bit of trouble.

But Dwivedi, who came in for the experienced Amir Khan, scored nine fours and three sixes at the other end and along with Mishra took them past 300. Once Mishra fell, Imtiaz Ahmed and RP Singh also put in useful contributions to take UP to a competitive score.

The Services openers survived five overs before stumps and still trail by 186 runs with two days left.

Bengal 65 for 1 (Basu 27*) trail Railways 306 (Ghosh 88, Rawat 68, Bhille 65, Paul 3-47, Dinda 3-95)
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Bengal batsmen employed an ultra-defensive approach as they huffed and puffed their way to 65 for 1 in 45 overs against Railways, on the second day at the Jamia Millia Sports Complex. Railways scored 306 in their first innings losing the last six wickets for 92 runs.

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Tamil Nadu 101 for 3 trail Baroda 162 by 61 runs
Scorecard

Tamil Nadu's quest for an outright victory was jolted by persistent rain in Chennai as only one session of play was possible on the second day of their match against Baroda. The hosts reached 101 for 3, with a busy Dinesh Karthik and a dogged B Indrajith at the crease, but will rue the time lost to weather considering they are looking for their first win of the season.

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