Khoda ton leaves Rajasthan-Andhra match intriguingly poised

A century from opener Gagan Khoda has seen Rajasthan make a strong comeback in their second innings against Andhra at Visakhapatnam. At the end of the third day's play in the Elite Group sixth round encounter between the two sides, the tourists, who had conceded a 59-run first-innings lead, had reached 264/6.

Khoda, who made a plucky half-century in the Rajasthan first innings, went one better in the second essay, making 117. With Rohit Jhalani chipping in with an unbeaten 43, the tourists ensured that they were in with a chance of pulling off a comeback win on the final day.

In another elite group match that started at Hyderabad on Saturday, the hosts managed to reach 282 for seven against defending champions Railways. Daniel Manohar, who made 107, and Ambati Rayudu, who made 62, were the batting stars for Hyderabad. For Railways, former Indian medium-pacer Harvinder Singh and former Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik snared three wickets each.

Delhi, meanwhile, were shot out for 164 on a low-scoring first day against Bengal at the Ferozeshah Kotla. Only Gautam Gambhir (43) and Mithun Manhas (41) offered resistance against a Bengal attack led by off-spinner Sourashish Lahiri, who claimed 5-24. The home team bowlers, however, managed to get their team back into the game, reducing their opponents to 93/5 by the time stumps were drawn. Bengal's fate would have been worse had it not been for an unbeaten 43 from Shubhomoy Das.

At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, visiting skipper Vikram Rathour made 108 to guide Himachal Pradesh to 274 all out against the hosts, for whom their skipper Paras Mhambrey claimed 5-64. By the time play ended, Mumbai had reached 20/1 in reply.

Half-centuries from Niraj Patel (66) and veteran bat Mukund Parmar (55) helped Gujarat reach 234/8 against Punjab at the end of the first day of another sixth round match in Ahmedabad. Lav Parmar was the other home team batsman to get among the runs, making 43.

The Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, for its part, witnessed two left-handers S Suresh and Hemang Badani hold centrestage in a match that pits their team Tamil Nadu against hosts Assam. The duo put on 211 runs for the unbroken third wicket to guide the visitors to a solid 331/2 by the end of the opening day's play. Suresh, who also happens to be the Tamil Nadu skipper, was batting on 131 while Badani was on 108. Former India opener S Ramesh, who made 69, was the other batsman to make an impression on the day.

At Varanasi, Ranji Trophy runners-up Baroda managed to restrict hosts Uttar Pradesh to 213/7. Spinner Ajit Bhoite was the wrecker-in-chief with 4-54. For Uttar Pradesh, Rohit Prakash (41), Jyoti Yadav (44) and Nikhil Chopra (44) all managed to get starts but failed to press on.