Vidarbha have secured the vital first innings lead in their four-day plate group encounter against Services at Nagpur. Services, who resumed on 117-1 on the third morning, could only manage 344, conceding a lead of 140 runs to the hosts. Yashpal Singh, who made 68, and wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh, who made 77, were the two main scorers on the day. For Vidarbha, off-spinners Pritam Gandhe and Madhusudhan Acharya claimed five and four wickets respectively.

The Vidarbha openers, then, proceeded to rattle 72 runs in 16 overs in their second innings. With an overall lead of 212 runs in hand, Vidarbha would now be looking to clatter a few more quick runs before pressing for an outright win. Opener Amit Deshpande, batting on 42, and his partner Vivek Naidu, on 27, were set to resume their innings on the fourth morning.

On the second day of another plate group match being played at Margao, Goa reached 192-4 in their first innings after restricting Tripura. Opener Sagun Kamat (83 off 155 balls) and Ashok Swapnil (61 off 187 balls) led the hosts' response. Earlier, Tripura made 296 in their first innings.

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