Sabbir Rahman’s 122 went in vain in the first high-scoring thriller of this season’s BPL as Barisal Bulls prevailed over Rajshahi Kings by four runs

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSabbir Rahman hit nine fours and as many sixes in his 122•BCB

Sabbir Rahman’s 122 went in vain in the first high-scoring thriller of this season’s BPL as Barisal Bulls prevailed over Rajshahi Kings by four runs.Barisal had to thank Mushfiqur Rahim and Shahriar Nafees, whose 112-run stand for the third wicket hauled them close to 200. Then, tight death bowling, none more important than the last over where Thisara Perera defended nine, helped them seal the game.Sabbir arrived at the crease in the first over after Raqibul Hasan was spectacularly caught at cover by Nafees. After punching the ball through the covers for his first boundary, he slammed Monir Hossain for a straight six, for the first of his nine sixes. But Barisal gave him a reprieve on 14 when Al-Amin Hossain dropped him at point.Sabbir ensured the Powerplay overs were put to use as he added 48 runs for the second wicket with Mominul Haque, but the left-hander fell in the sixth over. That was followed by the unfortunate dismissal of Umar Akmal. While the bowler didn’t appeal, umpire Khalid Mahmood was perhaps influenced by Mushfiqur’s appeal. Replays showed the ball was going over leg stump.Sabbir was least affected by that, however, as he hammered hammered sixes off Taijul Islam and Al-Amin as Rajshahi caught up with the chase. At the halfway mark, they were on course, having made 92 for 3. He soon brought up his 100 off just 53 deliveries before ecplising Chris Gayle’s record for the highest individual score (116) in the tournament’s history. When he holed out to midwicket, Rajshahi needed 34 off the last four overs.The chase increasingly looked a struggle from there on as Sammy and Nurul Hasan couldn’t find the boundaries. It got even harder after Sammy left with ten needed off the last seven balls, leaving Nurul and Abul Hasan to see them to 193. It boiled down to six off the final ball, which went for just a single to cover. Al-Amin, whose dropped catch made it hard for Barisal, ended up with three wickets while Monir, Abu Hider and Rayad Emrit had one each.Farhad Reza had earlier removed Dilshan Munaweera and Dawid Malan as Barisal slipped to 21 for 2 in the fifth over. Then it Mushfiqur and Nafees took over, and brought up a potentially match-winning total that was defended with much elan.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second one-day international between Ireland and Pakistan

The Preview by Alan Gardner19-Aug-2016Match factsAugust 20, 2016
Start time 10.45am local (0945GMT)Big PictureWell, at least things can only get better for Ireland. It would be hard to go worse than a 255-run shellacking and they will be aiming to narrow the appreciable gap between the sides when the rematch gets underway with only 48 hours in which to recover their composure.Pakistan have had their difficulties against Ireland in the past but, on the back of Sharjeel Khan’s mighty hitting, they breezed to a confidence-boosting victory to start off the limited-overs leg of their tour. There is not much to be gained in the way of rankings points by beating Ireland but winning has yet to become a habit for Azhar Ali’s ODI side.Azhar did not gain any respite from his own trough of 50-over form but Pakistan appear to have a better balance to their side, with several allrounders and a blend of youth and experience. Mohammad Nawaz enjoyed his debut, with fifty and a key wicket, while a successful comeback for Umar Gul was also encouraging.It would be in Pakistan’s interests to come up against a stiffer test ahead of their five-match series against England. Ireland have stuttered through their busiest-ever home season but the incentive of a Full Member scalp remains on the table; they will certainly want to finish without chants of “Pakistan Zindabad!” ringing in their ears.Form guide(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Ireland LWLWL
Pakistan WLLLLIn the spotlightWith only one fifty in 12 innings, William Porterfield has come in for increasing scrutiny at the top of the order. The long-serving Ireland captain moved down to No. 3 for the first match against Pakistan – though he was at the crease inside the first over after Paul Stirling’s two-ball duck – and he will need to draw on a decade of experience to lift a side that has just posted its lowest total at home.Sharjeel Khan became the seventh opening partner for Azhar Ali since he was made ODI captain after the World Cup and, at a stroke, the most successful. Having scored fifty on debut in 2013, Sharjeel failed to nail down a position and spent two years out of the side. He won a recall in T20s after an impressive PSL and, having swelled his ODI average from 17.63 to 28.83 in one boundary-filled innings, has earned an extended crack.Teams newsIreland are likely to stick with most of the team that were so ignominiously manhandled the other day but Peter Chase – whose seven overs cost 70 – could make way for Craig Young.Ireland (probable) 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Ed Joyce, 3 William Porterfield (capt) 4 Niall O’Brien, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Gary Wilson, 7 Stuart Poynter (wk), 8 Andy McBrine, 9 Tim Murtagh, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Peter Chase/Craig YoungYasir Shah and Wahab Riaz were rested after their Test exertions but may want a white-ball game to tune up for the resumption of competition with England. Mohammad Amir could be in line for a break.Pakistan (probable) 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Babar Azam, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Imad Wasim/Yasir Shah, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Hasan AliPitch and conditionsPorterfield said the surface for the first match “wasn’t a 330-all-out pitch, but it wasn’t an 80-all-out pitch either”. It should provide something for everyone, provided the teams can get on – rain is forecast for much of the day in Dublin.Stats and trivia Pakistan’s 255-run win on Thursday was their biggest in ODIs; Ireland’s total of 82 was their second lowest Sharjeel Khan’s 61-ball hundred in the first ODI was the fourth fastest for Pakistan Niall O’Brien needs 34 runs to become the fourth Ireland player to 2000 in ODIsQuotes”It’s a tough learning curve for the younger lads coming into the team – it is a tough school coming in to bowl at the best players in theworld.”

Scotland batsman Calum MacLeod has credited a return to form to technical adjustments made during a winter of off-season training with his county side Durham. MacLeod’s 103 in a win over UAE on Tuesday was his third ODI ton for Scotland and first since 2014.”It’s been a year without a hundred for Scotland so to get a monkey off my back in putting in a winning performance again, I’m really really happy personally,” MacLeod told ESPNcricinfo after the win in Edinburgh.MacLeod had an outstanding 2014 for Scotland, beginning that January by scoring two centuries at the 2014 World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand including a Scotland ODI record 175 against Canada. He ended the year in solid form as well, notching 116 not out in a win over Ireland at Malahide in September.However, 2015 was a nightmare for MacLeod. A pre-World Cup tour to the UAE to play fellow World Cup participants Ireland and Afghanistan in a desert tri-series netted three runs in five innings opening the batting. Things didn’t get much better at the World Cup either. He scored off one ball in his first 12 deliveries of the tournament, registering two ducks along the way to complete a string of four noughts in six innings that began in Dubai.After being Scotland’s second-highest scorer in New Zealand a year earlier at the Qualifier, with 401 runs in eight innings, he ended the World Cup with 50 runs in six innings. He struggled at the World T20 Qualifier back on home soil later in the summer too, finishing fifth in the team in runs with 114 from seven innings and a best of just 29.That form slump carried to Durham as well. In 2014, MacLeod was Durham’s leading scorer in the NatWest T20 Blast with 358 runs at 44.75 including two fifties. On the back of the World Cup drought, he made 210 runs at 21.00 in the T20 Blast while his County Championship form went south too, finishing with 161 runs in 13 innings at 14.63 with a best of 44.”After the World Cup and the season that followed as well, I got myself into some quite bad habits,” MacLeod said. “Last winter I went away and worked quite closely with the coach for quite a lot of the winter, Jon Lewis down at Durham, and we did some really interesting work.”It was amazing how small a change I think I had to make to get back to scoring runs. It felt, and it looked when we did some video, that a lot of the time I just wasn’t set. My trigger [movement] wasn’t in and it was that simple, that I was doing it too late. So I was trying to bat when I wasn’t even ready to bat.”MacLeod started to show signs of turning things around in January during the tour of Hong Kong when he top-scored with 58 in the first ODI. He struggled a bit more in the subsequent T20s and wound up only playing in one of Scotland’s three matches at the World T20 in India.However, MacLeod continued to plug away upon returning to Durham and the results have been showing. Working his way back into the first team he scored an unbeaten 105 on July 18 in the 2nd XI one-day cup against Northamptonshire, his third 50-plus score in four games in the competition. On July 29, he motored to 83 off 50 in the T20 Blast against Derbyshire before scoring Tuesday’s century against UAE.”Changing such a simple thing and just getting it in earlier for me, it gave me the time and the confidence started to flow when I scored more runs in the early part of this season down at Durham and continued it the whole way through. So it’s been a nice reward of some hard work in the winter away from games.”Scotland have two more home ODIs in September against Hong Kong to end the summer. They’re also now just one point behind Netherlands after eight games in the WCL Championship. Scotland’s remaining WCL Championship fixtures through 2017 come against Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Kenya and MacLeod says the series against Hong Kong is a good opportunity to continue building momentum in an effort to overtake Netherlands on the WCL Championship table next year.”We spent a bit of time in Hong Kong during the winter,” MacLeod said. “We didn’t play our best cricket so I think the guys will be really fired up to give Hong Kong a good showing and show them what we can do. If we play as well as we played and field as well as we have then I see no reason why we can’t come away with two wins.”We want to win the tournament and I think it’s going to be based on performances like we’ve done in the last two games. We don’t want to do it based on other teams losing games. There won’t be a game that we won’t go into without this attitude to go and win the game and take it forward. Obviously there’s some big games coming up. It’s just a case of finding a way to win those really.”

Mauricio Pochettino will be working tirelessly this summer to turn Chelsea’s fortunes around following their woeful Premier League campaign this term, finishing in the bottom half of the table.

The Blues have conceded 46 goals in 37 games thus far, and it is clear that the defence needs some improvement, despite the talents of Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile in their ranks.

Pochettino will surely stick with the duo next term; however, it could be a different story for Kalidou Koulibaly, who has failed to impress upon his £33m switch from Napoli last summer.

He has started just 20 league games for the club and kept only five clean sheets as part of the defence, as well as ranking 6th for tackles made per game and third for cautions.

He was even dubbed a “liability” by journalist Bruno Brown earlier this year, so could Pochettino ditch the Senegalese defender after only one season in London? Only time will tell.

With the Stamford Bridge outfit seemingly keen on making a move for Barcelona centre-back Jules Kounde, he could well find himself down the pecking order.

Could Chelsea sign Jules Kounde?

According to Diario Sport, Kounde is ready to leave the Spanish giants as he hasn’t been utilised in his preferred position by Xavi, and with this in mind, Chelsea could potentially make a move during the summer.

A fee of €75m (£65m) could be enough to tempt Barcelona to sell the Frenchman and Pochettino would certainly strengthen his defence by luring the player to England.

Across 27 La Liga matches, the 24-year-old received a Sofascore rating of 7.11/10 and he has showcased his passing ability by making 54.9 passes per game (89% success rate) while averaging 77.9 touches each match, indicating that he is extremely comfortable on the ball and likes to build attacks from the back.

The defender also ranks highly compared to other centre-backs across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year when it comes to attempted passes (top 7%), progressive carries (top 2%) and progressive passes (top 2%) – further backing up his ability to work the ball out from the defence effectively, and Pochettino could use this to his advantage next season.

Former French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf dubbed the Barcelona star as a “warrior” previously and heading into 2023/24, the Argentinian coach will be looking to build a team which is full of players hungry for glory and Kounde could be the perfect signing for the Blues.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed there is now a "concrete chance" Tottenham Hotspur will hire Arne Slot as their new manager.

What are the latest Spurs manager rumours?

Since Antonio Conte left, Spurs have been linked with a number of men who could come in and replace the Italian this summer.

Indeed, the likes of Julian Nagelsmann, Luis Enrique, Brendan Rodgers, and Vincent Kompany have all been touted in the media.

However, it appears that 44-year-old Feyenoord boss Slot is steadily becoming a more and more realistic option for the North London outfit.

Indeed, while speaking about the latest managerial situation on his YouTube channel, Romano revealed that Spurs are holding "internal conversations" about the coach and he is also set to speak to his club soon about a possible exit too.

He explained (1:44): “Also to update on the Tottenham job, because Daniel Levy is still looking for a new director, and then he will go for the new manager.

"But internal conversations, as I told you, are taking place Arne Slot, Feyenoord manager. Really appreciated entirely Tottenham, so he's a concrete chance for the Tottenham job.

"And with Arne Slot, there will be conversations also in a direct way between Slot and Feyenoord this week to understand the potential conditions and the potential compensation needed for him to go to Premier League."

What has Arne Slot said about Spurs?

Pubically at least, Slot has remained coy about his chances of leaving, telling Dutch media on the weekend (via Evening Standard): "We're here for next Sunday's game. I'm not here to talk about my future. That could mean that English journalists are leaving with their tails between their legs."

While adding: "I’m under a huge magnifying glass in everything I say about this subject. So I choose to say as little as possible again … when it comes to new clubs there’s a huge scale in every word I use, so I try not to talk about it until I can say something about it."

But if he is set for "direct" conversations with Feyenoord behind the scenes about compensation and other things like that, as Romano claims, then it does sound as though he is genuinely considering the job.

Of course, though, Spurs are reportedly looking to hire a new sporting director first, so a move for Slot may be put on ice for a brief while as Daniel Levy finds a successor to Fabio Paratici.

Liverpool are in advanced negotiations for Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, as Jurgen Klopp is closing in on the first step of an extensive rebuild.

What’s the latest on Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool?

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, the Reds are closing in on a deal for the 24-year-old, who is described as one of their “priority targets” alongside Mason Mount.

The journalist had previously tweeted that the Merseyside outfit were close to full agreement on personal terms with the player and club just waiting to finalise the final details.

It has been revealed that there’s no fixed clause in his current contract, but it has been suggested it could take more than £70m for the move to happen.

Why should Liverpool sign Alexis Mac Allister?

The £50k-per-week gem has been on the south coast since 2019, but in the last year, he has deservedly enjoyed a phenomenal rise in prominence and popularity.

He has made 39 appearances in all competitions and registered 15 goal involvements for the Seagulls this campaign and has been an integral component of a side that secured Europa League qualification thanks to a 1-1 draw with recently crowned Premier League champions Manchester City yesterday evening.

The 16-cap international, whose current contract expires in 2025, has received this vast admiration thanks to his indispensable role in his nation’s World Cup triumph last year having played in six of the seven tournament games for the eventual winners.

The Argentine provided for Ángel Di María in his team’s second goal in the final against France, to become immortalised in his country’s folklore.

From a deep-lying playmaker role, Mac Allister has been in impeccable form – showcased by the fact that he ranks in the top 19% in Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for progressive carries per 90, the highest 17% for shot-creating actions per 90, and the best 16% for successful take-ons per 90.

He represents an upgrade to Naby Keita, who is to depart Liverpool this summer after five years at the club.

Previously labelled as the "complete midfielder" by Jurgen Klopp, the former RB Leipzig man, but his time in England has been blighted by injury and inconsistency.

As per The Athletic, the Reds have played 277 competitive matches since his arrival, but he’s only featured in 129 of them, which equates to 47%.

This season, he has only made eight top-flight outings for Liverpool and has shockingly registered just the 25th-highest rating within the whole squad, according to WhoScored.

Compared to Liverpool's priority target, he also ranks poorly, as he sat inside the top 41% of Premier League players last term for successful take-ons, demonstrating he is dispossessed easily and lacks composure.

Meanwhile, Mac Allister, who has been hailed as a "magician" by Danny Welbeck, embodies reliability and consistency and would be a welcome replacement for Keita at Anfield.

Several big names could move on from the Gunners during the transfer window as part of Mikel Arteta's ongoing rebuild

It’s set to be another busy summer at Arsenal as the Gunners prepare for their first season back in the Champions League since 2017. Some big-money new additions are expected to arrive, but there could also be some high-profile departures as Mikel Arteta continues to rebuild his squad.

From experienced names such as Granit Xhaka, to up-and-coming youngsters like Charlie Patino, there are several players who head into the transfer window with their long-term futures up for debate in north London.

GOAL takes a look at some of the players who could move on to pastures new…

• Emile Smith Rowe

  Should Smith Rowe leave this summer, it would be a move that would hugely divide opinion. The Hale End graduate may have barely featured this season, but he remains a massively popular with the fanbase.

  It’s clear, though, that he’s way down the pecking order under Arteta at present, and with Arsenal expected to bring in more than one midfield addition this summer, Smith Rowe could be deemed as expendable, should a decent offer arrive.

  Arsenal have held talks over signing Mason Mount, a player very similar to Smith Rowe in terms of where he plays, which again does not bode well in terms of the 22-year-old’s long-term future.

  The Gunners firmly rejected multiple bids from Aston Villa for Smith Rowe two years ago, insisting he was not for sale. It remains to be seen whether their stance would be different this time around if some big offers arrive.

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  Granit Xhaka

  It would be strange if Xhaka left this summer, but there is expected to be interest in the Switzerland international when the season comes to an end. And with Arsenal looking at the likes of Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo, there is a possibility they could be open to letting Xhaka leave to free up space and bring some money in.

  Arteta remains a big fan of Xhaka and he has been hugely influential this season, taking his game to a new level in a more advanced midfield role. But should the 30-year-old push to leave this summer and return to Germany, Arsenal’s manager might not stand in his way.

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  Charlie Patino 

  Arsenal’s young midfielder is set to leave following talks with the club. It has been agreed that the academy graduate can move to seek regular first-team football following his impressive loan spell at Blackpool.

  There is already strong interest in the 19-year-old, both from clubs in England and abroad. Arsenal and Patino’s representatives will now work together to find the best move for the teenager, with the Gunners expected to include several clauses in any deal they agree.

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  Kieran Tierney

  Ideally, Arsenal would like to keep Tierney ahead of the club’s return to the Champions League. But the Scotland international has lost his place in the starting XI this season to Oleksandr Zinchenko and is expected to push for a move.

  Newcastle and Aston Villa are believed to be interested and could make some big bids for the left-back once the season comes to an end.

  Arsenal do need to bring in some money this summer and Tierney is a very saleable asset, so it could be that the former Celtic man will be allowed to leave, bringing to an end his four-year stay in north London.

Newcastle United have been transformative under new ownership and new management since the Saudi-led takeover of the club in 2021, casting aside the universally deplored proprietary of Mike Ashley, who had run the club into the ground during his lengthy ruling of one of the Premier League's most prominent outfits.

With the opulence of the owners capable of rivalling even the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, widely considered the two financial powerhouses in European football, many expected lofty fees to follow the completion of the deal, but the work completed on and off the pitch has been nothing short of astute.

Manager Eddie Howe has crafted a team seeking a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2003, and having clinched 65 points from 33 matches, in third place and nine points above Liverpool in fifth, a swift return to the forefront of the scene looks soon to be confirmed.

The cobwebs of the past are all but cleared at St. James's Park, but one particular deal, the 2018 sale of Mikel Merino, remains a reminder of the previous failings that left the club fluctuating between divisions and scarcely seeing success for many years.

When did Newcastle sell Merino?

Having signed Spanish midfielder Merino from German giants Borussia Dortmund in October 2017, mere months after landing the ace on an initial loan deal, he was sold to Sociedad the following summer after his £10m buyout clause was met.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Merino's brief, 25-match stint on Tyneside preceded the birth of his true skill set at Sociedad, but his natural ability was never in question and granting his departure less than one year after his permanent acquisition seems somewhat premature.

He has now forged 191 appearances for Erreala, scoring 18 goals and serving 25 assists, with journalist Josh Bunting waxing lyrical over the 26-year-old, stating he "oozes confidence".

His rounded scope has expanded during his time in LaLiga, with his seasonal exploits notably demonstrating the improved creativity of his game – Merino has provided one goal and nine assists from 27 league appearances this term.

According to Mundo Deportivo, the 6 foot 2 ace holds a €65m (£57m) release clause in his current contract, a fee the likes of Aston Villa have been willing to meet as recent speculation over the player's future mounts, which only serves as a poignant reminder to what could have been for the Magpies.

The aforementioned fee is actually an incredible 470% increase in value, something which could feasibly increase over the coming years, Merino still only 26 years old.

As per FBref, the £66k-per-week star ranks among the top 2% of positional peers for rate of assists, the top 1% for aerials won, the top 12% for tackles and the top 15% for clearances, highlighting the impressive ubiquity of his trade.

While Newcastle are on track for a sustained period of milk and honey, the 13-cap Spaniard's inclusion could've provided the extra slant in the midfield engine this term, perhaps proving the difference in the 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester United, or issuing control in divisional clashes that could have pushed the club closer to the forefront of the Premier League table and into title contention.

Their wealth, fortunately, buffers the blow, but it certainly illustrates the ineptitude of the previous chapter and the strides taken in such a short time. Indeed, this is one transfer tale to file in the mistakes column.

India A’s spinners, led by Yuzvendra Chahal, took eight wickets between them to lead the side’s 57-run win over Australia A in the final of the Quadrangular A-team one-day series in Mackay

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2016
Scorecard1:18

‘Dravid helped us be calm’ – Mandeep

India A’s spinners, led by Yuzvendra Chahal, took eight wickets between them to lead the side’s 57-run win over Australia A in the final of the Quadrangular A-team one-day series in Mackay. Chasing 267, Australia A lost all but two of their set batsmen to spinners, eventually folding for 209. Earlier, Mandeep Singh’s 95 and Manish Pandey’s 61 had guided India to 4 for 266. This is also India A’s third successive win over Australia A in the final of an A-team tournament, with the previous wins coming in July 2014 and August 2015.Australia A began their chase promisingly with a 31-run partnership between openers Cameron Bancroft and Kurtis Patterson before the latter was bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni in the seventh over. A 51-run partnership for the second wicket between Bancroft and Nic Maddinson further strengthened Australia A’s chase but India A fought back through wickets from Karun Nair, whose part-time offspin accounted for both batsmen. Despite a few quiet overs in the middle, Australia A captain Peter Handscomb and Alex Ross kept the asking rate in sight during their brisk 77-run stand, until Kulkarni got the breakthrough with Ross’ wicket.Chahal and Axar Patel wrapped things up quickly after that. Axar’s left-arm spin dismissed Handscomb for a top-score of 43 in the 39th over, and Chahal took four of the next five wickets to seal a win by the 45th over. Australia A’s last six wickets fell for only 26 runs.India A had a quiet start after losing Nair in the second over but recovered through a string of half-century partnerships. Mandeep was part of two of those partnerships, with Shreyas Iyer (41) and Pandey, during his 108-ball stay. The opener struck 11 fours in his second successive fifty before he was out caught behind off Joe Mennie, five short of what would have been his fourth List A century.India A scored only five boundaries in the last 15 overs but still scored 100 runs, steered along by Pandey with help from Kedar Jadhav who chipped in with 25 off 33. Pandey, the India A captain, who has been in good form through the tournament, surpassed David Miller on the series run charts with his 61, ending with a tally of 359 runs in seven innings, including two centuries.The lack of boundaries, Mandeep said after the game, was largely due to the slow outfield. The resulting difficulty in run-scoring, he said, made his knock of 95 one of his best so far. “More than the wicket, I think it was the ground. I knew that I had to run hard on this ground, take a lot of twos and threes. I think I probably did that, that’s why I got success,” he said. “Definitely it was very hard, because in India you get a lot of boundaries, so definitely it was one of my harder innings, but I enjoyed it.”

A round-up of the second day’s play in round one of Ranji Trophy Group A matches

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2016

Group A

Fast bowlers Krishnamoorthy Vignesh and Aswin Crist helped Tamil Nadu compete against Mumbai in Lahli. Vignesh finished with 5 for 41 on debut, while Crist returned figures of 3 for 51 as they made sure Tamil Nadu – who had been all out for 87 – conceded a first-innings lead of only 89 runs.Openers Washington Sundar and Abhinav Mukund then wiped out that deficit with a 107-run stand that shifted the momentum firmly in Tamil Nadu’s favour. However, Dhawal Kulkarni broke the partnership to open a passage of play in which six wickets fell for the addition of just 43 runs. Debutant left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil did most of the damage, taking 3 for 36. Tamil Nadu went to stumps with a lead of 64 and only four wickets in hand.Harpreet Singh raced to an unbeaten double-century to help Madhya Pradesh post 465 from an overnight total of 292 for 7. Seamers Ishwar Pandey and Gaurav Yadav then reduced Uttar Pradesh to 131 for 5 as Madhya Pradesh established a dominant position by stumps on day two in Hyderabad.In the morning, resuming on 112, Harpreet hit 104 of the 173 runs Madhya Pradesh added. He was well supported by Ankit Sharma, who scored 61 off 97 in an eighth-wicket stand that yielded 155 runs in 208 balls. Madhya Pradesh maintained a run-rate of almost 5 in the 36 overs they faced.With the ball, Pandey made the first breakthrough and Yadav made the next three, before the run-out of Piyush Chawla left Uttar Pradesh struggling at 96 for 5. Eklavya Dwivedi and Kuldeep Yadav saw them through to stumps without any further losses.Uday Kaul and Gurkeerat Singh scored unbeaten fifties in an unbroken 110-run fifth-wicket stand to rescue Punjab and take them to 154 for 4 against Railways in Delhi.This was after Siddarth Kaul dismissed Railways’ overnight batsman, Ashish Yadav (81) Shivakant Shukla (128), and then removed Anureet Singh to complete his five-wicket haul. Overall, Punjab took 5 for 74 in the day and bowled Railways out for 331.In their reply, Punjab were reduced to 44 for 4 by the Railways quicks, before Uday Kaul (59*) and Gurkeerat (66*) put up resistance.Baroda declared on 544 for 8, before Gujarat‘s openers survived 15 overs to stumps on another batsman’s day in Jaipur.Resuming on 285 for 2, Baroda’s overnight batsmen Aditya Waghmode and Deepak Hooda added a further 57 runs before their 175-run third-wicket partnership was broken. By that stage, Hooda had got 118; Waghmode was dismissed shortly after for 142.Contributions of 47 from Hardik Pandya and 66 not out from Swapnil Singh took Baroda past 500. Gujarat’s openers, Samit Gohel and Priyank Kirit Panchal, closed out the day at 34 for 0.