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Test venues and practice grounds are scarce in Bangladesh. Due to venue scarcity this baby Test nation might have to face lots of unwelcoming situations in near future. BKSP (Bangladesh Sports Training Institute) seems to be the sole option left for the Bangladeshi cricketers to carry on practice sessions in needful hours. This is the only place where they can make a real cricket campaign.A Test playing squad can’t go along with a static situation – they have to be dynamic all through the year, as cricket is no longer a season-based game. The players here (From all ranks) hardly get any opportunity to evaluate their performance after they are done with a series. Why is the situation like that? Because they aren’t getting the facilities they need to go through post-match champing (Which is vital) owing to field scarcity.Surprisingly true that Bangladesh hasn’t fixed up any ground for cricket only. The renowned BNS, which saw seven Tests staged there (All before 1971) before Bangladesh had entered the longer version, is still allotted for both cricket and football. The government is yet to make a decision on it – whether it would be a completely cricket stadium or a football one. The ground condition, after the football league is over, turn out to be horrendous. The ground is made doable for cricket again (For an upcoming series or league), but it costs a lot of money each year. An unaffordable wastage for a poor country like Bangladesh no doubt!The so-called stadiums, Dhanmondi and BUET, are no better than schoolyards. They are deprived of gallery, pavilion and other very essential services needed to run regular cricket.The only exception could be Fotullah Cricket Stadium, which is ten miles away from Dhaka. It is still under construction (Only 20% work has been done), but has valid possibilities to turn up as a furnished cricket venue. BCB should be more concerned over it. Fotullah offers ample space and another cricket academy can be built there. If they can do that some pressures would be off from BKSP.

A century from opener Gautam Gambhir in the India A second innings saw the tourists gain an overall lead of 417 runs over Sri Lanka A at the end of the third day of the first unofficial Test between the two sides being played at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo.The start of play had earlier been delayed in the morning because of rain. The players finally took the field at 11:45 A.M. with a minimum of 86 overs being scheduled. India A, who had secured a 115-run first innings lead after bowling the home team out for 200 on Friday, got off to a rousing start.Openers Gambhir and Akash Chopra were in fine nick. A confident Gambhir, fresh from his 79 in the first innings, went after the bowling with unrestrained glee. At the other end, Chopra decided to play the waiting game. The partnership progressed at a healthy rate before Chopra (51) fell with the score reading 138-1 in 38.3 overs.His dismissal, however, failed to stem the flow of runs with Gambhir continuing to prosper in the company of next man Sridharan Sriram. The partnership between the two left-handers realised 58 runs before Gambhir fell after making 120 off 167 balls with 15 sweetly-timed fours. Gambhir’s rich vein of form, coming as it does at a time when Shiv Sunder Das is struggling in the West Indies, must have significantly boosted the former’s chances of being included in the Indian squad for the upcoming Test series against England.Gambhir’s departure saw Hrishikesh Kanitkar striding out to the middle. But after making just seven, the India A captain had to suffer the mortification of being castled by fast bowler Pushpakumara.Rohan Gavaskar, who replaced Kanitkar, started patiently in a bid to ensure that his first-innings failure was not repeated. Sriram could not keep him company for long, being dismissed for 45 after the two had only added 14 runs to their team’s score. The Tamil Nadu left-hander’s dismissal set the stage for next man Jai Prakash Yadav.Using his bat like a bludgeon, Yadav rattled up 46 runs off just 50 balls with two fours and three sixes before bad light saw play being called off. Walking off with him was Gavaskar, who was batting on 22.With India A having already gained a massive overall lead, the duo might not be called upon to strap on their batting pads on the final day. What we might see is India A pushing for a victory after making an overnight declaration. With leg-spinner Amit Mishra in fine bowling form, their chances to go 1-0 up in the three `Test’ series look bright indeed.

Somerset coach Kevin Shine was noticeably absent from the County Ground today where his side gave a strong batting display against Hampshire, the county where he started his first class career.Kevin was missing because he was at home with his wife Bethan celebrating the birth of their second son Thomas, who was born at 2 am this morning and weighed in at 7lbs 8ozs.Everyone at Somerset County Cricket Club is delighted with the news and send their very warmest congratulations and best wishes to Bethan and Kevin and all the family.

After Mumbai Indians razed down Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s target of 197 with 27 balls to spare, losing captain Faf du Plessis admitted that his side was struggling because their bowling group does not have “as many weapons” as the other teams. As a result, du Plessis said, RCB’s batters need to be adept at scoring more runs to even “have a chance” while their bowling group needs to find new ways to be effective.”At the moment, it feels like, from a batting perspective we have to get and try and push for 220 to have a chance,” du Plessis said after RCB’s fifth defeat in six games. “From a bowling perspective, we don’t have as many weapons. So unfortunately it comes down to the batters to make sure that we use our form and our confidence. The scores that we put on the board are probably going to be the only way we are going to get into the competition.”On Thursday, all six RCB bowlers turned out expensive with Mumbai scoring at 12.84 per over. Even their most economical bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak bowled his three overs for 10.66 while Akash Deep was the most expensive at 15.71. RCB also conceded 72 runs for no wickets in the powerplay, which left them with no way back.Related

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“From a bowling perspective, we have lacked a little bit of penetration [at the start] so we have to go out and find creative ways within our squad we can get a team two or three-down in the powerplay. Just so that you feel like your bowling innings can start on the front foot. It feels, for the last few games, that we are on the back foot after the first few overs.”Du Plessis also said that a combination of the evening dew and the explosive start provided by Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma in their 53-ball stand of 101 forced his bowlers to make errors. He also said that the surface was batting-friendly and Mumbai did better than RCB in using their batting resources.”You also have to give credit in the way that the boys from MI came out and played,” he said. “Put a lot of pressure on our bowlers. Made our bowlers make a lot of mistakes in the powerplay especially.”You could see that anyone who came in could find the middle of the bat quite easily. We did know that and spoke about it in the first innings. The dew here looked like it was going to be big so we felt we needed to get 215, maybe even 220. Obviously, 190 [196] or whatever we got wasn’t enough runs.””It [dew] is a big thing in some venues as we know. When the dew settles in, it is really tough. You could see the boys were bowling a few full tosses. We changed the ball a few times. It was really, really wet. But that’s just the game of cricket. It is probably the only sport where the conditions have such a big impact.”How does a team combat dew and the apparent lack of penetration among their bowlers? Du Plessis said that the onus fell on his batters to produce performances that make opponents feel the weight of a big target. He also said that the lack of top-order partnerships barring the 82-run stand between Rajat Patidar and himself was also a factor in their defeat.”Therefore in your first innings here, you make sure you get a score that builds scoreboard pressure,” he said. “I thought we did a good job. I thought we fought with the bat. We were never really in a position where we could really… you know, we lost crucial wickets at crucial stages.”Myself and Rajat got a nice partnership together and then you lose a wicket and then you rebuild and then you again lose a wicket. With them [Mumbai], they just had the fluency in their innings, their guys came in and played really positive at the end, which gave them the platform for the full crack.”RCB next play Sunrisers Hyderabad at home on April 15, where they will look to avoid five straight defeats. They are currently ninth with the second-poorest net run-rate of -1.124.

Half-centuries to Sam Billings and Daniel Bell-Drummond helped Kent to a 21-run victory against Birmingham Bears, meaning that Finals Day will be an all-southern affair for the first time in Blast history.Billings, Kent’s captain, was playing only his fourth match for the county this season and termed his fiercest critics “deluded” as he reached his first Finals Day after three previous quarter-final defeats.”It means everything,” he said. “This has always been our hurdle to get over. I haven’t been around as much as I would have liked due to England stuff and getting Covid. I was injured a couple of years ago so it’s been a pretty weird couple of years. To be back here playing cricket with this team, it means so much. I’ve been at the club since I was eight. People don’t think I care, I think they’re deluded to be honest.”Chris Woakes’ return to competitive action after seven weeks was a lift for Birmingham – and England – and the early stages of the match suggested that he was going to steal the show. In his first over, he dismissed Zak Crawley and had Joe Denly dropped at slip with a delivery that the England selectors will no doubt hope he can replicate if selected at the Oval in a week’s time. Three runs and a wicket off his first over, but that was as good as it was going to get for Woakes, and as it turned out, Birmingham.Kent’s batting line-up is exceptional, comprising a top four of Crawley, Bell-Drummond, Denly and Billings, and on Friday night it was Bell-Drummond and Billings who led the way.Just one boundary had come off the first four overs before the return of Danny Briggs to the attack prompted Bell-Drummond to dump him over square leg for consecutive sixes. However, just as Kent seemed to be wresting control of the contest, Tim Bresnan had Denly caught on the square-leg boundary to tip the momentum slightly back into Birmingham’s favour as the Powerplay ended with the score 46 for 2.With the bounce making players look rushed, early, late, or just uncomfortable, Bell-Drummond was at ease. He struck three of Kent’s five sixes with two sweeps off Briggs and one scarcely believable sweep off Woakes, a normal, 85mph length delivery, slog-swept over midwicket.Related

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However, much to the disappointment of non-Birmingham supporters, Bell-Drummond’s innings came to an end in bizarre fashion. Jake Lintott bowled to Billings, who crashed a straight drive back into the base of the non-striker’s stumps where it stopped almost stock still. As Bell-Drummond took a pace down the wicket looking for a run that didn’t exist, Lintott pounced on the ball with one hand before lunging with the other outstretched to pull the two stumps that remained standing out of the ground.The responsibility for Kent’s innings at that point transferred to Billings and he accelerated well to turn 23 off 22 into 56 off 37.On the whole, it was a bizarre first innings. Birmingham bowled well, with Bresnan – who took 4 for 26 – and Craig Miles in particular managing to force the issue against a Kent line-up that folded apart from Bell-Drummond and Billings. But the Bears fielded poorly. Four chances were missed as Denly was dropped first-ball, Briggs missed a run-out, Michael Burgess missed a crucial stumping off Billings and Chris Benjamin had a chance at a spectacular catch on the boundary that went down. Combined with the fact that their key wicket of the innings came through a large slice of fortune and the overall opinion at the halfway stage was one of a shoulder shrug.Birmingham’s reply was greeted with the sound of Billings barking support to his bowlers.”Highest dot-ball percentage in the comp this lad!”, he yelled about Bears opener Adam Hose. Sure enough the dot-balls started coming. Just three runs came off the first over, four off the second, eight off the third, but so too a wicket, Hose, stumped for eight. At 15 for 1 off three overs, 162 was looking alright.The stumping, however, was tinged with controversy. The ball appeared to spill from Billings’ hands upon contact with the stumps. Given that Hose was well out of his ground when the bails were broken, the square-leg umpire simply nodded in agreement that indeed Hose was out and that was that. It was only upon replay where some questions were raised.As the innings continued, the slightly sticky nature of the pitch struck again as Benjamin fell to a Matt Milnes length ball that slightly stopped on him and which he spooned straight back to the bowler. Milnes launched the ball into the night sky with a yell that told of the importance of the moment. Benjamin, having scooped the first ball of his innings for four, appeared to be in the mood, but his departure saw Birmingham finish the Powerplay at 40 for 2 and Kent’s 162 was still looking alright, just.Qais Ahmad entered the attack and immediately took the wicket of Robert Yates. “We like this match-up!”, yelled Billings moments before the ball had crashed into the stumps.Soon after, Jack Leaning’s occasional offspin took the vital wicket of Sam Hain, who was struck plumb in front, before a rank full toss was missed completely by Will Rhodes and clipped leg stump. At that point, even Billings was stunned into silence.The six-to-ten-over period had seen a Birmingham capitulation which continued into the eleventh as Burgess hit another full toss to cow corner. Between innings, Bresnan had quipped that the best delivery on this surface was the “pie”. Not only had he turned out to be correct, but he was now at the crease alongside Woakes needing 12 runs an over.Despite a period of slight recovery, the four wickets that fell for 11 runs had effectively ended the contest. Had it not been for a late flourish of 41 off 20 from Lintott, the last rites arguably should have been read out at the moment Woakes was caught at long-on off the bowling of Milnes.Kent will play Sussex in the semi-finals at Edgbaston on September 18 and Hampshire will face Somerset ahead of the final.

Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 220 runs in the one-off Test in Harare, the visitors’ patience paying off after the hosts’ nightwatchman Donald Tiripano led a rearguard action with his 144-ball 52. Zimbabwe’s last three wickets took up 34.4 overs, but they had lost four wickets in 19 balls in the day’s first session.The win – Bangladesh’s fifth overseas victory overall – capped off a fine farewell for Player of the Match Mahmudullah, who announced his retirement from Tests on the third day of the game. At the start of play on Sunday, Bangladesh gave Mahmudullah a guard of honour, and captain Mominul Haque let him lead the team out onto the ground. After being a last-minute inclusion in the XI, Mahmudullah rescued Bangladesh with a first-innings 150 at No 8. He added 191 runs for the ninth wicket with Taskin Ahmed, who made a career-best 75.Related

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The eventuality of the Test was decided when Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed Richard Ngarava to finish with match figures of 9 for 148, the best returns in an overseas Test by a Bangladeshi bowler. Taskin also took his career-best innings figures of 4 for 82 in Bangladesh’s second dig.The win – Bangladesh’s first one on foreign soil since 2017, having lost ten out of eleven of those matches – didn’t come easy for them on the final day. Dion Myers and Tiripano put up a resistance that lasted 17 overs, but the visitors bounced back with a four-wicket burst that signaled a swifter finish to the Test match.Tiripano found willing allies in Victor Nyauchi and Blessing Muzarabani, who had a hilarious duel with Taskin, giving back the little jig that the Bangladeshi had done on him on the second day. Nuyachi was caught at slip, fending a Taskin bouncer while Ebadot Hossain removed Tiripano for his only wicket in the match.Bangladesh could have finished matters much earlier had they held on to three chances. Myers was dropped by wicketkeeper Liton Das and first-slip Shakib off Miraz’s bowling, while Taskin grassed Tiripano off his own bowling. Shakib dropped a second chance when Muzarabani edged to him off Miraz.Miraz, however, eventually removed Myers and Timycen Maruma in the same over before Taskin took the wickets of Roy Kaia and Regis Chakabva as Zimbabwe’s middle-order collapsed.Bangladesh had staged a spirited fightback in the first innings, before Shakib and Miraz ensured a big lead with their combined nine-wicket haul. The visitors batted better in the second innings, with Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto struck hundreds.Brendan Taylor made 81 and 92 in a line-up that had none of their experienced batters. Takudzwanashe Kaitano, one of three debutants, made 87 in the first innings. The visitors would have a few things to work on, most notably their bowling against the Zimbabwean lower order that performed admirably.

With Kolkata Knight Riders pursuing a top-two finish in the league stage, batsman Chris Lynn is keen to play a match before the playoffs, ideally targeting a return against either Kings XI Punjab (May 9) or Mumbai Indians (May 13).Lynn trained with the Knight Riders squad on Tuesday in Kolkata, for the first time since dislocating his shoulder while fielding against Mumbai Indians last month, in his second match of the season.”The shoulder is slowly getting there,” Lynn told . “I had a cortisone injection the other day and it worked really well. I’d like to ideally play a game or two before the finals. It would be a bit unfair on the team-mates to rock up into a final not having played a game [since the injury].”Lynn injured his left shoulder while landing awkwardly during a dive in the match against Mumbai. He felt the shoulder pop out of the joint for about 30 seconds, and said he popped it back in himself. It was the third time Lynn had hurt his left shoulder in two years but his concerns went beyond his availability for the IPL: he has been picked in Australia’s Champions Trophy squad subject to a fitness assessment.Scans showed the injury was not as severe as had been expected and Lynn remained with the KKR franchise for his recovery. He worked with Knight Riders’ medical staff and Paul Chapman, the strength and conditioning coach of Queensland and Brisbane Heat, who is working with Mumbai Indians.”We worked out whatever I could do back home, I can do where I am now in Kolkata,” Lynn said. “It only makes sense I’m here trying to get fit to play some cricket before heading over to England. There would be nothing worse than going in under-prepared to a world tournament.”I’m going to have my first bat and I’m feeling really confident it about it. The shoulder has come up really well. It’s positive signs but I’ve still got a long way to go.”Lynn admitted that the multiple shoulder injuries meant he would have to be more careful on the field.”I can’t keep affording to have this time off when I’m hitting the ball so well, it’s so frustrating,” Lynn said. “I think I might just have to be one of those fielders you hide in the field. But as soon as I start costing the team runs in the field, that’s when I’ve got to have a hard look at it. I think I can still contribute a fair amount with the bat and still be good enough in the ring in the field.”Lynn had made an impressive start to the IPL, hitting an unbeaten 93 off 41 balls against Gujarat Lions and a brisk 32 against Mumbai. Following his injury, KKR used Sunil Narine as an opening batsman.Knight Riders are currently second on the points table, with seven wins in ten matches. After the match against Rising Pune Supergiant on Wednesday, they will play two away matches – against Royal Challengers Bangalore (May 7) and Kings XI (May 9) – with their final league match at home, against Mumbai (May 13).

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:13

Chappell: There was no inspiration from Misbah

For Australia, a quadruple triple. For Pakistan, a wretched dozen. Steven Smith’s men completed another crushing victory over the crestfallen visitors on a balmy day at the SCG, making it 12 consecutive wins for the Australians in home Tests against Pakistani touring teams – four clean sweeps in a row dating back to 1999.There never seemed much doubt over the result when the final day began, and even less when Josh Hazlewood struck twice in the first half hour to maintain his outstanding record this summer. From there Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe worked their way through the Pakistan line-up, with Hazlewood returning to claim the final wicket on the stroke of the tea break.Ahead of the Test team’s next job in India, the use of spin on a wearing wicket gave Smith and the coach Darren Lehmann some idea of where Lyon and O’Keefe sat. Lyon bowled some beguiling spells, notably to Younis Khan, but O’Keefe finished the day with the superior figures – 3 for 53 as opposed to 2 for 100.The match played out in an agreeable atmosphere, as a decent crowd of 17,583 filed in for the price of a gold coin donation to the Jane McGrath Foundation. They saved some of their biggest cheers for the substitute fielder Mickey Edwards, a seam bowler from the Manly grade club who sported a surfer’s mane of hair in weather that could scarcely have been more beach-friendly.Hazlewood set the tone in the first over of the day, accepting a return catch from Azhar Ali, and followed up by claiming Babar Azam lbw for the second time in the match. Lyon’s teasing spell to Younis was rewarded when the batsman lost patience and skied an attempt to hit over midwicket. A leading edge was accepted comfortably by Hazlewood at mid-on. Younis finished the Test on 9977 runs.The nightwatchman Yasir Shah had offered considerable resistance to Australia, but was defeated by an O’Keefe delivery that turned and bounced enough to catch the edge and was taken low down at second slip by the substitute fielder Jackson Bird. Misbah did not look at ease at any stage of his innings, but found a way to survive to lunch in the company of the more proactive Asad Shafiq.On resumption Shafiq got as far as 30 before Starc found a hint of reverse swing into the right-hander from around the wicket to bowl him off an inside edge. Sarfraz continued in a similarly positive vein opposite Misbah, the pair adding 52 in only 13.3 overs. However, Australia broke through when Misbah aimed an extravagant heave at O’Keefe and was caught attempting to slog a spin bowler for the second time in the match.Wahab Riaz fell next, apparently mystified as to how the umpire Richard Illingworth’s not-out verdict could have been overturned. Matthew Wade heard the faintest of sounds as O’Keefe spun the ball past the bat, and his appeal was backed up by the merest possible spike on Snicko for the third umpire Ian Gould to rule in the bowler’s favour.Mohammad Amir’s stay was ended by a wretched run-out, and Smith took the second new ball minutes before the scheduled tea break to allow the excellent Hazlewood to claim the last wicket with extra bounce and another catch to Bird – his four snaffles equalling the world record for a substitute.In recent years, beating Pakistan down under has been one of the least challenging tasks Australia can contemplate; their next assignment, facing up to India in India, is by far the most difficult.

Duanne Olivier was in debutants’ heaven. He was picked to play his first Test at the Wanderers, as part of an all-pace pack, in a week when the sky was curtained in cloud, the air was heavy with moisture and the opposition would obviously have preferred to be somewhere else.But then his captain won the toss and decided the bowlers would have to wait. And then his team-mates batted so well, they ensured the bowlers would have to wait even longer.Olivier was in danger of doing nothing all day until eight balls before close on the opening day, when JP Duminy edged to second slip and a nightwatchman was needed. The team management decided it was a chance to get the new man in the game, even though it was something he had never done before.”They (Faf du Plessis and Russell Domingo) asked if I wanted to do it. And I decided why not. It’s an opportunity. It was scary because I don’t even bat as high for the franchise but it was exciting,” Olivier admitted.Frustrated after a long day with scant reward, Lahiru Kumara bounced Olivier first-up. He ducked, and made a mental note to dish out some of the same treatment later. Olivier faced only three more balls that evening, including one that seamed and bounced and beat his outside edge, but finished his first day as an international fully satisfied. “I was nervous going out there, batting with a guy like Hashim but it was an unbelievable experience for me.”It was only midway through the following day that Olivier got to do what he had been picked for and then, the nerves came back. “My hands were sweating and I didn’t think straight,” he said, when asked to recall how he felt as he bowled his first ball, to open the 10th over: a 136kph length delivery on off stump. The bouncer followed, some late swing came, the yorker was attempted and then, the chance for his first Test wicket.Kusal Mendis chipped a drive back to Olivier who jumped late and, despite going with both hands, could not hold on. “I was disappointed but it was only my own fault,” he said. “But I knew there was a lot in the wicket so if I just bowled according to plans and did what Faf told me to do, I would get rewarded.”Olivier had to wait for his second spell before that happened, deep into the Sri Lankan innings, but it was worth it. A throat-high bouncer had Rangana Herath top-edging a pull and Stephen Cook’s catch at short leg completed the job. Olivier was off the mark and he didn’t want to stop.He took one more wicket in that innings and three in Sri Lanka’s second innings, with a noisy Wanderers crowd cheering him on. What’s not to love? “When I play four-day cricket, there is no one watching but here, it feels like there are 20 million watching,” he said. “It’s intense, it’s crazy, you need to concentrate, you need to be on the ball, you can’t wander off and watch at the screen. The level is so much different to domestic cricket, you can’t compare. At the end, their No. 8, 9 and 10 batsmen can bat. That’s not to say our franchise players can’t but you feel like you have a chance with franchise players.”Olivier quickly realised the step up to international cricket will demand a lot from him, especially as he tried to find a place as the third-seamer in South Africa’s XI. They are looking for someone who can do a dual job of containing and attacking, for someone who can complement the seam movement of Vernon Philander and the pace of Kagiso Rabada. Someone who generates good bounce is an obvious choice and Olivier does that, but so does Morne Morkel. And there are other options like the left-arm angle of Wayne Parnell, which means Olivier is in a queue.After a decent outing, he may have to wait again but, for now, he doesn’t mind. “I know there are players coming back. If I get the opportunity to play again, of course I want to play. Who doesn’t want to play for the country? But I do also understand they have been performing well for the last 10 years so I can’t be like I must play. I am not too fazed. If I don’t play it’s not the end of the world for me. I will keep working hard at franchise level until I get another opportunity. I will get my opportunity and I will wait for it, whenever it comes.”

Tamil Nadu took the first-innings lead against Gujarat in Belagavi to almost seal the qualifying scenarios from the group. Going into the final day, it was all but certain that these two sides – barring a Gujarat collapse, however unlikely – will join Mumbai as the three qualifiers from Group A. This became a real possibility late in the day when it emerged that Madhya Pradesh were unlikely to force a bonus-point win over Bengal in Delhi.Tamil Nadu had Kaushik Gandhi to thank for being in this position. The top-order batsman, who has come into his own this season after being in and out of the side in the past, struck his third century of the season. He was unbeaten on 150 as Tamil Nadu ended the day 90 ahead, on 397 for 4. His 116-run stand with B Indrajith, who made 66, helped the side recover from the late dismissal of Abhinav Mukund (99) on the second day. Gandhi and Vijay Shankar (35 not out) had added 97 when play ended.Manpreet Gony’s four-wicket haul kept Punjab in line for an outright win as they they enforced the follow-on against Mumbai in Rajkot. It may yet not be enough, unless of course Tamil Nadu, having taken a lead, lose outright to Gujarat.Having already taken a wicket overnight, Gony took two early wickets on the day as Mumbai slipped to 19 for 4 within the opening five overs. It took a 101-run sixth-wicket stand to rescue Mumbai from 37 for 5. This partnership was between Sufiyan Shaikh (67) and medium-pacer Shardul Thakur (70), who had been released by the Indian Test team after he didn’t make the XI in the ongoing Test. Mumbai’s resistance didn’t last too long after this partnership, and they folded for 185.In the second innings, they reached 94 for 2 stumps, on the back of a 72-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Armaan Jaffer for the second wicket. At stumps, Shreyas was unbeaten on 59, alongside nightwatchman Vishal Dabholkar (2*).Bengal were unlikely to make the cut despite putting up a tall first-innings score•PTI

Ankit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey struck their highest first-class scores and put on 121 for the eighth wicket to keep Madhya Pradesh in the game against Bengal in Delhi.MP’s overnight pair extended their partnership to 84, having come together after Dinda had struck on the first ball of their response to Bengal’s 475. However, they lost six wickets for 82 runs from that point, and were reduced to 166 for 7, thanks largely to medium-pacer Sayan Ghosh, who took four of those wickets. Ankit then scored an unbeaten 90 as he put on 121 with Ishwar (63) and an unbroken 76 with Naman Ojha (40*) – who came in at No. 10 – to take MP to 363 for 8 at stumps.Baroda‘s last five wickets added 307 runs, but couldn’t succeed in getting them the first-innings lead against Uttar Pradesh in Nasik. Baroda had been steadied by a 91-run stand between Kedar Devdhar and Irfan Pathan overnight, after having fallen to 151 for 5 in response to UP’s 481. The pair added a further 53 in the morning before Pathan was dismissed for a 98-ball 81.Devdhar eventually fell for 157, after adding 53 with left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, who went on to make a career-best 95 as he added 97 with Sagar Mangalorkar(34) for the eighth wicket. However, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed both of them in a space of four overs before a run-out ended Baroda’s innings on 458. UP’s openers, Shivam Chaudhary (55*) and Almas Shaukat (61*), put on an unbroken 117 to take them to stumps with a 140-run lead.