*East Zone

*Bengal complete eight-wicket win

As Bengal left-arm spinner took six wickets, his side went on to win their Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at Kolkata on Monday.

Overnight on 147/6, Assam collapsed in the face of sustained spin from Chatterjee and off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri (4-65). Barring the 83 from PK Das at the top of the order, none of the batsmen could even cross 50. The visitors were consequently bowled out for 206.

Set a target of 157, Bengal reached it easily, losing only the openers along the way. Nikhil Haldipur made an unbeaten 51 and skipper Rohan Gavaskar 40 not out. Bengal collect eight points from this outright win.

*Tripura draw with Bihar

Surviving some hiccups along the way, Bihar held on to draw with Tripura in their Ranji Trophy league match at Agartala on Monday.

Tripura, at 50/3 overnight, went on to make 249 in their second innings boosted by another fine knock from C Sachdev. Sachdev, however, missed a century for the second time in the match, falling for 96 made off 170 balls.

Set a victory target off 232 off 17 overs, Bihar had no option but to play for the draw. That too seemed in jeopardy as three wickets fell in four overs. T Rehman and N Ranjan finally held on till the end, taking their side to 59/4 at stumps. S Shukla was the Tripura bowler who rocked Bihar's second innings, taking four for 24 off eight overs.

*South Zone

Sharath, Badani star for Tamil Nadu

Sharing 196 runs for the fourth wicket, Sridharan Sharath and Hemang Badani took Tamil Nadu to a strong position at the end of Day Two in their Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at Bangalore.

Losing opener Sridharan Sriram early in the day, Tamil Nadu's fortunes revived with a mini-stand between Hemant Kumar and Badani. Karnataka dismissed the former just before lunch, but Sharath and Badani then combined for their mammoth partnership. Sharath made 113 off 173 balls, while Badani struck 124 off 234 balls. At the end of the day, Tamil Nadu were 357/5, with skipper Robin Singh and TR Arasu at the crease.

In the other South Zone match, Venkatapathy Raju brought Hyderabad surging back into their match after being dismissed for a low first-innings total by Kerala. Raju returned figures of 23-9-42-6 as Kerala collapsed for 125, with only Sunil Oasis (47) showing any resistance. At stumps, Hyderabad were 124/2, with Vanka Pratap and Anirudh Singh unbeaten on 23 and 17 respectively.

At Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh were comfortably placed at the close of play on Day Two. Bowling Goa out for 270 in their first innings, with Tanveer Jabbar making 107, Andhra Pradesh ended the day on 184/1, with skipper MSK Prasad unbeaten on 74 and LN Prasad Reddy on 28.

*North Zone

*Services draw with Jammu & Kashmir

Set a total of 306 to win, Services opted for a safe draw and three points in their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi on Monday.

Jammu & Kashmir, 133/4 overnight, went on to score 242 in their second innings. The innings revolved largely around wicket-keeper Arshad Bhatt, who made a patient 98 off 177 balls. Bhatt came in at the fall of the fourth wicket and stayed till the end, becoming the tenth wicket to fall. He was also Arun Sharma's fifth wicket; Sharma took five for 39.

Services started steadily but lost openers K Chawda and PMS Reddy within the space of 29 runs. Thereafter, Jasvir Singh and Yashpal Singh played well. The former made 54 off just 55 balls, while Yashpal Singh made an unbeaten 51. At stumps, Services were 202 for the loss of four wickets.

*Himachal Pradesh play unimaginative cricket

Despite being in a position to declare and set Haryana a sporting target, Himachal Pradesh opted to bat out most of the day in their Ranji Trophy league match at Rohtak on Monday.

Overnight batsmen Rajiv Nayyar and Sangram Singh, both in good form, made the most significant scores of the innings. Sangram Singh fell for 54, made off 94 balls. Nayyar, as has been his wont, occupied the crease dully, making 102 off 314 balls, with 13 boundaries.

Himachal skipper Varinder Sharma never enforced a declaration, so that when they were finally bowled out for 270 (made off 101 overs), Haryana were set a target off 347 off 20 overs. The match petered out into a dull draw, and the only excitement of the day was provided by Amit Mishra, who took a hat-trick by claiming Varinder Sharma, Amit Sharma and C Kumar off successive deliveries.

*Punjab draw with Delhi

A match that saw two high first-innings total, the Ranji Trophy league tie between Punjab and Delhi at Amritsar ended in the expected draw on the fourth day.

Punjab, still continuing their first innings on the fourth day, were finally bowled out for 441, with Amit Bhandari picking up 7-92 for Delhi. The visitors, on batting again, could not repeat their first-innings heroics; barring a resolute 75 from Pradeep Chawla, no batsman could really get going, and the innings was declared at 198 for nine.

Set a target of 257 off 16 overs, Punjab inevitably played for the safe draw and reached stumps at 58 for one. Delhi, by virtue of their first-innings total, collect five points from this match, while Punjab collect three.

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