Pragyan Ojha was back in the reckoning after registering a four-wicket haul that helped Bengal register a massive 115-run win against much fancied Punjab in Bilaspur. Maharashtra, after breaking several run-scoring records last week showed tremendous fight on the last day to earn a draw against Saurashtra in Vizianagaram when all doors looked firmly shut on their chances of survival.
Another discarded India player roared his way into the limelight with Haryana skipper Mohit Sharma taking 5/27 to take his side to a comfortable win against Chattisgarh in Guwahati.
Pragyan Ojha spins out Punjab
Pragyan Ojha helped Bengal register a big win with a four-for. Yet again, it was a weak display of batting from Punjab. Apart from a fluent 75 by opener Manan Vohra, none of the other batsmen put in a decent shift as Bengal put in a complete team performance
Madhya Pradesh-Mumbai encounter crawls to a draw
Mumbai finished the match with a lead, which helped them pick up crucial points on the board as veteran batsman Abhishek Nayar also scored a ton. Opener Akhil Herwadkar had already set the tone for a big score with a solid 153. Barring Ishwar Pandey, who came into the contest on the back of a 11-wicket haul, none of the other Madhya Pradesh bowlers could make inroads into the Mumbai batting.
Maharashtra make a dramatic escape
After Saurashtra enforced the follow-on, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for Maharashtra but their batsmen showed tremendous grit to earn their side a draw. Murtaza Trunkwala scored a battling hundred but Ankit Bawne's patient 60 was equally important to deny Saurashtra what looked like a certain win for them.
Brief scores:
Madhya Pradesh 445 drew with Mumbai 567/7 (Akhil Herwadkar 153; Abhishek Nayar 103; Ishwar Pandey 3/122)
Bengal 404 & 226 (Manoj Tiwary 92; Siddarth Kaul 6/57) beat Punjab 271 (Uday Kaul 77; Amit Kulia 5/76, Ashok Dinda 5/58) & 244 (Manan Vohra 75; Pragyan Ojha 4/70) by 115 runs.
Gujarat 187 & 437/7d (Priyank Panchal 101) beat Railways 124 & 206 (Mahesh Rawat 52 not out; Ishwar Choudhary 3/30) by 294 runs.
Uttar Pradesh 524 drew with Tamil Nadu 480 (Abhinav Mukund 154, Baba Indrajith 127 not out; Ankit Rajpoot 4/120)
Kerala 517/9 (Iqbal Abdulla 159 not out; Mehdi Hasan 3/134) drew with Hyderabad 281 (Mehdi Hasan 58; Sandeep Warrier 3/57) & 220/3 (Balachander Anirudh 120 not out; Jalaj Saxena 1/41)
Jharkhand 209 & 277 (Ishank Jaggi 100; Mahipal Lomror 5/51) lead Rajasthan 207 & 67/3 (Shahbaz Nadeem 2/22) by 213 runs.
Saurashtra 657/8 decl. drew with Maharashtra 182 (Murtaza Trunkwala 64; Kushang Patel 5/43, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5/41) & 345/8 (Murtaza Trunkwala 117; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4/64)
Vidarbha 416 (Ganesh Satish 105; Swarupam Purkayastha 5/133) drew with Assam 227 (Swarupam Purakyastha 44 not out; Aditya Sarwate 5/72) & 73/2 (Rahul Hazarika 33 not out)
Goa 606/6d drew with Services 279 (Rahul Singh 89; Shadab Jakati 3/47, Felix Alemao 4/56) & 188/4 (Rahul Singh 70 not out; Saurabh Bandekar 3/30)
Haryana 178 & 289 (Himanshu Rana 75; Pankaj Rao 5/74) beat Chhattisgarh 189 & 117 (Abhimanyu Chauhan 46; Mohit Sharma 5/27) by 161 runs
Jammu & Kashmir 334 & 110 (Shubham Khajuria; Bhargav Bhatt 5/60) lost to Andhra 225 (Ravi Teja 81; Aamir Aziz 5/62) & 194/6 (Ravi Teja 50; Parvez Rasool 4/55) by 4 wickets
Tripura 549 drew with Himachal Pradesh 311 (Robin Bist 88; Rana Dutta 6/58) & 349/5 (Ankush Bains 113; Gurinder Singh 4/96)
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