Karnataka and Tamil Nadu beat Vidarbha and Baroda respectively on day three and Punjab had a win within touching distance against Uttar Pradesh on day three. Abhinav Mukund's side registered an emphatic win, hammering Baroda by an innings and 44 runs with Aushik Srinivas scalping 4/22.
Punjab need only 51 runs on day four after Siddharth Kaul's 6/27 helped Yuvraj Singh's side skittle Uttar Pradesh out for 95. Punjab were 61/2 at the close of play. Assam and Saurashtra are playing out an interesting low-scoring encounter with Arup Das and Jaydev Unadkat putting up terrific performances. For Unadkat in particular, this has been a terrific outing, scoring an unbeaten 46 to take his side out of danger. He had also scalped six wickets in the first innings.
As for all-round displays, it won't get any better than Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar, who took his side to yet another win. The former champions disappointed with that bat in both innings but Vinay Kumar once again showed why he is one of the kings of the domestic circuit, scoring 56 and following it up picking up five wickets.
Mukund and Tamil Nadu's resurgence
Tamil Nadu were rampant against Baroda to get to a comprehensive innings and 44-run win. Abhinav Mukund led the way for his side with yet another century, firmly establishing his place as one of the players of the tournament so far. After being shot out for 93, Baroda always had their task cut out. They put an improved display with the bat in the second innings but Aushik Srinivas turned on the style with spin to pick up four wickets and take his team to victory.
Vinay Kumar's pyrotechnics
There is little doubt of the Karnataka skipper's greatness in the domestic circuit and this game was yet another example of how great a match winner he is. Karnataka disappointed with the bat yet again in the second innings and were crying out for inspiration when Vinay Kumar walked in and scored 56, which turned out to be match-winning under the circumstances.
With the ball in hand, Vinay Kumar was lethal and picked up five wickets to run through Vidarbha to take his team to a 189-run win.
India's next-gen stars shine
Ishan Kishan's mammoth 273 had taken Jharkhand to a huge total of 493 and Rishabh Pant continued his dream run in the tournament with yet another century. Delhi, having conceded a lead of 159 runs have overhauled the deficit in their second innings and have nine wickets remaining.
Brief scores:
Assam 171 (Arun Karthik 57; Jaydev Unadkat 6/48) lead Saurashtra 153 (Jaydev Unadkat 46 not out; Arup Das 7/49) & 0/1 (Arup Das 1/0) by 18 runs
J&K 162 (Shubham Khajuria 48; Mayank Dagar 4/33) & 337/4 (Ian Dev Singh 99; Bipul Sharma 2/88) lead Himachal Pradesh 370 (Paras Dogra 89; Aamir Aziz Sofi 4/56) by 129 runs
Mumbai 345 (Akhil Herwadkar 96, Akhil Herwadkar 110; Karn Sharma 5/81) lead Railways 160 (Karn Sharma 24; Vijay Gohil 5/64) & 135/4 (Saurabh Wakaskar 39; Tushar Deshpande 2/8) by 50 runs
Uttar Pradesh 335 (Kuldeep Yadav 62, Eklavya Dwivedi 60; Shubek Gill 3/52) & 95 (Rinku Singh 43 not out; Siddarth Kaul 6/27) lead Punjab 319 (Yuvraj Singh 85; Saurabh Kumar 4/71) & 61/2 (Manan Vohra 34; Kuldeep Yadav 1/9) by 51 runs
Jharkhand 493 (Ishan Kishan 273; Subodh Bhati 3/80) trail Delhi 334 (Rishabh Pant 117; Sunny Gupta 3/62) & 165/1 (Dhruv Shorey 67 not out; Sunny Gupta 1/50) by 6 runs
Services 446 (Shamsher Yadav 136; D Ravi Teja 3/25) lead Andhra 177/1 (Prasanth Kumar 90 not out; Vikas Yadav 1/34) by 269 runs
Chhatisgarh 198 (Amandeep Khare 60; Rituraj Singh 6/60) & 95/2 (Sahil Gupta 50 not out; Saurabh Bandekar 1/14) lead Goa 270 (Samar Dubhashi; Pankaj Kumar Rao 4/95) by 23 runs
Haryana 303 (Rohit Parmod Sharma 92; Sandeep Warrier 5/80) & 6/0 lead Kerala 404 (Bhavin Thakkar 79; Harshal 4/63) by 95 runs
Karnataka 267 (K Gowtham 60 not out; Lalit Yadav 5/67) & 209 (Vinay Kumar 56; Shrikant Wagh 4/56) beat Vidharbha 176 (Jitesh Sharma 61; Shreyas Gopal 3/22) & 111 (Jitesh Sharma 61; Vinay Kumar 5/28) by 189 runs
Rajasthan 323 (SF Khan 110; Suryakant Pradhan 3/97) trail Odisha 172 (Deepak Behera 67; Aniket Choudhary 4/46) & 244/2 (Subranshu Senapati 90; Mahipal Lomror 1/23) by 93 runs
Baroda 93 (Kedar Devdhar 26; K Vignesh 5/23) & 200 (Soaeb Tai 69 not out; Aushik Srinivas 4/22) lost to Tamil Nadu 337 (Abhinav Mukund 100; Munaf Patel 4/91) by an innings and 44 runs
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