History in Bengal, farce in Delhi

Mumbai were forced to follow-on for the first time in 18 matches, against Bengal. This was also the first time Bengal took the first-innings lead in this fixture

Talk of the nervous nineties and Manoj Tiwary scoffs. He brought up his maiden century in Sehwag-esque fashion with a cheeky reverse sweep against Mumbai - and went on to pile up a double-hundred.

Tamil Nadu ran like Gump but were fined five penalty runs. Reason? They were, repeatedly, running on the danger area. To add injury to insult Andhra, powered by Venugopal Rao's century, managed to save the game.

Substitute R. Prasanna took three catches as Tamil Nadu were sitting pretty after reducing Andhra to eight wickets. But he failed to take a difficult chance off Kalyankrishna when the ball flew to his left at second slip; Kalyankrishna made the most of his life to remain unbeaten on 1 in 62 minutes, giving support to the centurion Venugopal Rao as Andhra staved off defeat.

Openers bash
It was a round for brave openers. Aakash Chopra, jilted by the national selectors, proved a point with a big century. Connor Williams, M Vijay, Gagan Khoda and Robin Uthappa & Barrington Rowland, who pounded the Haryana bowlers in a 213-run rollicking partnership, all got hundreds. Hyderabad's Ravi Teja missed out on the century streak - by one run.

Misery and joy
While Subhamoy Das missed the game as his mother passed away a day before the game, Amitava Chakraborty cashed in on the opportunity with a well-made 81.

When you've got to go you've got to go. But this was one lengthy toilet break. Sambaran Banerjee, match referee for the Delhi v Uttar Pradesh game at Feroz Shah Kotla, and Umpire Sameer Bandekar disappeared for ninety minutes during the final day's play. The two umpires, I Shivaram and Bandekar, decided at 9:15 am that the light was not good enough for play to begin and at 11, when it improved and the players were prepared to take the field, only Shivram was at the ground. Banerjee and Bandekar had reportedly gone to watch a Bengal-Punjab Under-22 match in another stadium. The match was ultimately called off for the day around 12.30 pm. "I was in the toilet," Banerjee later told Hindustan Times.

Journeyman reaches a landmark
Mohammad Aslam, the left-arm spinner from Rajasthan, scalped his 200th wicket when he removed Pragyan Ojha.

Cricket returns to Mysore
The city of palaces did host a Ranji last year match but it was organised entirely by the Karnataka Cricket Association. So the Karnataka-Haryana match at the picturesque Gangothri Glades was momentous because Mysore locals hosted a first-class game after 18 years of wait.

Done in by the light
Punjab were ambushed by the elements right at the finishing line. Having gained a 295-run first innings lead. and with Gujarat at 86 for 1 in the second innings at the end of the fourth day's play , Punjab had to settle for two points as bad light allowed only 11 overs of play.

And the customary Nehra quote
Good times are here again for Ashish Nehra. After toiling hard without great reward in the season's first match, Nehra returned a five-wicket haul to propel Delhi to a first-innings lead. His reaction? "Whenever the team needs me, I put extra efforts on any kind of track. But don't expect me to bowl the way I did today again on such dead tracks."

Pandey calls it a day
Gyanendra Pandey, the veteran UP allrounder, finally called it a day after 117 first-class games, 5348 runs, 165 wickets. He made two ODI appearances as well. "It was a very emotional moment, but I guess every good thing has to come to an end," announced Pandey. Indeed.