File photo – Smit Patel scored his second successive hundred as Tripura finished the day on 305 for 2 against Himachal Pradesh © ICC/Getty
Left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal‘s second four-wicket haul helped Chhattisgarh bowl Haryana out for 178 in Guwahati. After Haryana elected to bat, the early damage was caused by seamer Pankaj Rao – who removed opener Nitin Saini and Himanshu Rana – and Mandal, who left them struggling on 63 for 6. Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 45, and Harshal Patel (34) mended things slightly with a 64-run partnership, before Patel fell to the part-time medium-pace of Abhimanyu Chauhan. There were a few minor contributions from the lower order before Haryana folded up in the 55th over. Seamer Abhishek Tamrakar chipped in with two wickets.
Chhattisgarh were solid in their reply, ending the day on 68 for 1.
Opener Bishal Ghosh‘s century and Smit Patel‘s second successive ton were instrumental in Tripura racking up 305 for 2 against Himachal Pradesh in Kalyani. Sent in to bat, Tripura had a solid start courtesy a 65-run opening stand between Ghosh and Udiyan Bose. After Bose was bowled by Pankaj Jaiswal, Ghosh and Patel raised 230 runs for the second wicket. Ghosh, 20, however, fell four short of his 150 in the penultimate over of the day.
Centuries from captain Sagun Kamat and debutant opener Sumiran Amonkar powered Goa to 333 for 2 at stumps against Services in Cuttack. Services’ decision to bowl was vindicated almost immediately as Diwesh Pathania had opener Swapnil Asnodkar caught behind in the first over. But, Kamat and Amonkar scored at a brisk pace while add 237 runs, before Amonkar was trapped lbw by Pathania for 101 off 195 balls. Kamat, however, put on an unbroken partnership of 91 runs with Snehal Kauthankar (35*), and remained unbeaten on 177 off 267 balls. That Services had a hard day was further illustrated by the fact that seven of the eight bowlers used had no success.
Half-centuries from Sachin Baby and Jalaj Saxena steered Kerala to 223 for 4 after they elected to bat against Hyderabad in Bhubaneswar. After opener VA Jagadeesh was removed by left-arm seamer Chama Milind in the fourth over of the day, Bhavin Thakkar (38) and Rohan Prem (41) put on 75 runs for the second wicket. Hyderabad’s bowlers hit back with three quicket wickets; Sanju Samson and Prem were dismissed for the addition of merely two runs in the space of 6.5 overs. Baby and Saxena, however, arrested the slide and put on an unbroken stand of 114 runs.
Opener Shubham Khajuria‘s 90 held Jammu & Kashmir‘s innings together as Andhra‘s seamers reduced them to 205 for 6 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Electing to bowl, Andhra prised out three of J&K’s top-four batsmen for 51 runs. Khajuria and Parvez Rasool (45) then added 99 runs, but once D Siva Kumar had Rasool caught behind, J&K lost two more wickets for 36 runs. Seamers Siva Kumar and DP Vijayakumar, and left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt picked up two wickets each.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo