Zaidi five-for forces Punjab to follow-on

Punjab 238 and 34 for 2 trail Uttar Pradesh 433 (Dharmani 68, Sodhi 61, Zaidi 5-50) by 161 runs
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Punjab's attempt at a third win this season took a heavy blow after five wickets from Ashish Zaidi, Uttar Pradesh's veteran fast bowler, dismissed them for 238 and forced a follow-on at Lucknow. Dinesh Mongia, Punjab's captain, will have his hands full tomorrow in an attempt to lead a recovery after two additional wickets fell before stumps on the third day. The day had begun well for the tourists as Pankaj Dharmani and Reetinder Sodhi scored fifties to lead Punjab's reply, but Zaidi and Piyush Chawla, the teenage legspinner, kept their cool to run through the batting order.

Maharashtra 318 and 6 for 0 require another 194 runs to beat Tamil Nadu 275 and 242 (Hemant Kumar 52)
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An allround effort from Maharashtra's bowlers gave the home side a good shot at their season's maiden victory, restricting Tamil Nadu to 242 in their second innings and leaving the batsmen 200 to win. The pace duo of Suyash Burkul and Anupam Sanclecha shared the spoils during the first two sessions as Tamil Nadu's middle order came a cropper. A 64-run opening stand between S Vidyut and Hemant Kumar was snapped by Sanclecha, while Burkul struck three vital blows thereafter.

Nilesh Modi led Gujarat's second-innings chase despite two quick wickets from Amit Bhandari, Delhi's captain and opening bowler, leaving them another 129 runs to get for a maiden victory this season. Earlier in the day, Siddharth Trivedi picked up 10 wickets in a match for the first time in his career to dismiss Delhi for 291. Aakash Chopra, the former India opener, failed to add to his overnight 70, falling lbw to Trivedi on the fifth ball of the morning, but Mithun Manhas was in fine form with a fluent 75.

Hyderabad 328 and 168 for 6 (Khaleel 52*, Joginder 4-47) lead Haryana 168 (Inder Shekar Reddy 4-40) by 328 runs
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Ibrahim Khaleel, Hyderabad's wicketkeeper, continued his fine form by stroking an unbeaten fifty before stumps on day three at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, giving his side a mammoth 328-run lead over Haryana. Joginder Sharma, Haryana's star allrounder, single-handedly led his team's fortunes, picking up four top-order wickets to get Hyderabad's second innings off to a bad start. Khaleel, however, has so far added 84 with Pagadala Niranjan, the other not-out batsman. Earlier, Haryana's attempts at a fight back were hampered by the left-arm spin of Inder Shekar Reddy, who snared key victims in the morning to restrict them to just 168.

Mumbai continued their dominance over Railways after a consistent, if unattractive, performance on the third day of their Elite Group A match at the Wankhede Stadium. Amit Pagnis and Vineet Saxena safely negotiated the better part of the first session, adding 76 further runs to give Railways a solid start. Ramesh Powar, however, had ideas of his own, sending down over after over of teasing offspin to dismiss both batsmen and generally frustrate the middle order. Mumbai were given a further shot in the arm just before stumps when Aavishkar Salvi, the medium-pacer, removed Murali Kartik, Railways' premier spinner.

Arindam Das and Subhomoy Das gave Bengal a positive start against Karnataka on the third day's play at Mysore, safely negotiating the bowling attack to finish on 75 for 0, a lead of 118 heading into the final day. Bengal owed much of their dominating position to Saurasish Lahiri, the offspinner, whose six-wicket haul routed Karnataka for 292 despite a maiden first-class hundred from Bharat Chipli, complete with 15 fours and three sixes. Sunil Joshi, the Karnataka veteran, chipped in with 44 down the order. Bengal, on top of the Group A points table, will look to press home the advantage and set their bowlers up for a decent total to defend.

Andhra 347 for 8 (Gnaneswara Rao 86, MSK Prasad 63) lead Services 296 by 51 runs
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Andhra's middle order, led by Gnaneswara Rao, held their own against Services to finish the third day at Palam on 347 for 8, a lead of 51. MSK Prasad, the former India wicketkeeper, fell early in the day for 63, but Gnaneswara was in good nick, striking a six as Andhra overhauled Services' first-innings 296. He fell on the stroke of stumps to the impressive AK Mohanty who, with 3 for 63, was the most successful bowler for Services.