CUTTACK, March 15: Delhi were struggling at 237 for five at close on the penultimate day of their Group B match here today still requiring 325 runs to overtake Orissa's first innings knock of 561 in order to qualify for the knock-out round.With only the final day's play left, it seems to be a herculean task for the visitors, who started their innings disastrously losing their top five batsmen for only 22 runs. However, an unfinished sixth wicket partnership of 215 runs between Virender Sehwag (141; 206b, 19x4 and 2x6) and Nikhil Chopra (68; 184b, 7x4) retrieved the innings to reach 237 runs without any further damage.ScoreboardOrissa (1st innings): Shiv Sundar Das run out 178, P Jayachandra c Sharma b A Singh 9, P Mallick c Sehwag b Chopra 113, S Raul c Dajiya b A Singh 31, Rasmi Ranjan Parida c Sehwag b Chopra 156, Pradeep Das c Dahiya b Jha 27, Robin Morris c&b Jha 15, Gautam Gopal lbw Sehwag 0, SK Satpathy c Chopra b Sehwag 3, D Mohanty b Jha 4, S Khan not out 5. Extras: (b4, lb6, nb6, w4)20.Total (all out in 194.1 overs) 561.Fall of wicket: 1-17, 2-197, 3-274, 4-388, 5-463, 6-487, 7-494, 8-500, 9-522.Bowling: A Singh 29-4-75-2, Jha 31-8-56-3, Sanghvi 40-1-121-0, Malhotra 6-0-16-0, Angurala 27-2-8-0, Chopra 40.1-2-129-2, Sehwag 15-4-54-2.Delhi (1st innings): Ashu Dani lbw Mohanty 4, Vijay Dahiya c Parida b Mohanty 11, Akash Malhotra c Gopal b Jayachandra 4, Ajaya Sharma c Gopal b Jayachandra 2, Mithun Minhas c Gopal b Mohanty 1, Virender Sehwag batting 141, Nikhil Chopra batting 68. Extras: (nb6) 6. Total (for wkts, 74 overs) 237.Fall of wicket: 1-10, 2-17, 3-21, 4-22, 5-22.Bowling: Mohanty 15-2-52-3, Jayachandra 15-2-39-2, Satpathy 14-2-57-0, Khan 17-2-46-0, Raul 10-2-31-0, Mallick 3-1-12-0.Maharashtra unluckyPUNE: Maharashtra's qualifying hopes seemed destined for disaster for a second year in succession at the end of the third day's play against Tamil Nadu in the Super League cricket match being played at Poona Club. Tamil Nadu were sitting pretty, havingaccomplished the first part of the mission - the vital first-innings lead. The visitors then scored 243 in their second essay with four wickets in hand.ScoreboardTamil Nadu (1st innings): 350.Maharashtra (1st innings): Hemant Kinikar b Vasu 76, Surendra Bhave b Mahesh 15, Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Reuben b Robin Singh 10, Abhijit Kale c Reuben b Mahesh 56, Shantanu Sugvekar c Badani b Devanand 13, Jaideep Narse c Reuben b Kumaran 0, Mandar Sane c Reuben b Kumaran 2, Sanjay Kondhalkar c Reuben b Kumaran 19, Iqbal Siddique c Robin Singh b Devanand 20, Sachin Nair not out 1, Ashutosh Agashe c Badani b Devanand 1. Extras: (b1, lb6, nb12, w1) 20.Total (all out in 87.2 overs) 233Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-100, 3-111, 4-140, 5-141, 6-175, 7-200, 8-231, 9-231, 10-233.Bowling: Devanand 16.2-4-32-3, Kumaran 23-2-77-3, Mahesh 20-6-45-2, Robin Singh 16-3-39-1, Vasu 12-2-33-1.Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): Anand George (out hitting the ball twice) 59, D Vasu c Sugvekar b Nair 14, Hemang Badani c Sugvekar bSiddique 10, S Sarath b Agashe 0, Madan Gopal not out 74, S Ramesh c Kale b Siddique 17, Robin Singh c&b Kale 56. Extras: (lb2, nb10, w1) 13.Total: (for six wickets in 73 overs) 243.Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-63, 3-64, 4-118, 5-152, 6-243.Bowling: Nair 15-3-45-1, Siddique 19-5-62-2, Bhave 5-0-14-0, Agashe 13-3-43-1, Sane 12-154-0; Kanitkar 8-2-22-0, Kale 1-0-1-1.Laxman slams big tonVADODARA: On an uneventful day for Vadodara when only two Hyderabad wickets fell, VVS Laxman's unbeaten 181 consolidated the visitors' position, taking them to 365 for 4, from where they need just 75 runs more to take the crucial first innings lead in the Group-A match being played here at the IPCL ground.Resuming at 75 for 2, Laxman carried on to reach his eighth century. His effort came from 174 balls with 17 fours. His overnight partner Vanka Pratap smashed 11 boundaries and a six, for his 88 in their third-wicket stand of 175 runs.ScoreboardVadodara (1st innings): 439.Hyderabad (1st innings): ArvindShetty lbw Wakaskar 0, VVS Laxman batting 181, A Nandkishore c&b Mulherkar 17, Vanka Pratap c Mohite b Swaroop 88, Vinay Kumar c Bhoite b Swaroop 7, MV Sridhar batting 49. Extras: (b2, lb6, nb14, w1) 23.Total: (for four wickets in 115 overs) 365.Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-63, 3-238, 4-266.Bowling: Wakaskar 22-10-51-1, Hamid 22-7-61-0, Mulherkar 35-4-138-1, Swaroop 25-1-77-2, Bhoite 11-2-30-0.Punjab in commandCALCUTTA: Punjab were in a strong position at the end of the third day of their Group A match against hosts Bengal at the Eden Gardens here. They are 402 for four in their first innings in reply to Bengal's 457, and look set take the vital first innings lead.Skipper Vikram Rathore was unbeaten on 179 at stumps today having remained at the crease for 566 minutes.ScoreboardBengal (1st innings): 457.Punjab (1st innings, overninght 105-0): Vikram Rathore batting 179, Navjot Sidhu lbw Shukla 52, Sandeep Sharma c Karim b Ganguly 39, Pankaj Dharmani lbw Shukla 65, Dinesh Mongia cDasgupta b Gandhi 37, Navdeep Singh batting 4. Extras: (lb2, w7, nb17) 26.Total (for 4 wickets in 112.3 overs) 402.Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-188, 3-310, 4-398.Bowling: Shukla 29-2-116-2, Banerjee 22-2-79-0, Ganguly 22-1-85-1, U Chatterjee 31-8-76-0, Gavaskar 3-0-12-0, Das 4-0-25-0, Gandhi 1.3-0-7-1.MP qualifyRAJNANDGAON: Madhya Pradesh today made sure of their entry into the quarter-final by bowling out Haryana for 299 in the first innings, thereby taking a lead of 306 runs on the third day of their Group C tie at the Digvijay Stadium here.Following on in the second innings, the visitors made 56 for two wickets at close of play today. With a full day left, they needed 250 runs more to avoid an innings defeat.ScoreboardMP (1st innings): CP Sahu c Parinder b Vineet 60, JP Yadav lbw Vineet 90, Amay Khurasiya c Jitendra b Manish 46, Devendra Bundela c Ajay b Vineet 31, Abbas Ali c Shafiq b Vineet 42, Chandrakant Pandit c Rajesh b Manish 71, Raja Ali c Jasbir b Manish 68, HarvinderSodhi b Manish 38, Rajesh Chauhan c Samarjeet b Pankaj 29, Manish Majithia c Parinder b Pradeep 62, Sunil Lahore not out 21; Extras: (b11, lb9, nb26, w1) 47. Total: (all out in 143 overs) 605Fall of wickets: 1-107, 2-107, 3-241, 4-250, 5-337, 6-389 7-477, 8-488, 9-533Bowling: Vineet Jain 31-1-153-4, Sakhalkar 34-4-110-4, Thakur 38-4-143-1, P Sharma 6-0-26-0, P Jain 32-2-143-1, Dalal 2-1-5-0Bihar concede leadDHANBAD: Despite a brilliant 114 by opener Nikilesh Kumar, hosts Bihar were all out for 390 runs in their first innings, conceding a vital 80-run lead to Saurashtra on the third day of their Group C tie here today. Saurashtra, who scored 470 in their first knock, were 14 for no loss at stumps thereby maintaining a lead of 94 runs.ScoreboardBihar (1st innings, overnight 145-0): Nikhilesh Ranjan lbw Chawda 114, Zeeshan Ali c Parmar b Kotak 59, CM Jha c Kotak b Odedra 41, T Rahman lbw Kotak 10, S Kumar c Parmar b Odedra 12, S Arif c Parmar b Bamania 51, S Singh c Merchant b Kotak 0, SPanda c Chawda b Bamania 57, V Kumar c Parmar b Bamania 9, A Kumar c Tanna b Kotak 7, KVP Rao not out 0. Extras: (b9, lb3, nb17, w1) 30. Total: (all out in 125.4 overs) 390.Fall of wickets: 1-155, 2-227, 3-241, 4-249, 5-256, 6-257, 7-373, 8-382, 9-384.Bowling: Chawda 17-4-91-1, Goswami 10-1-46-0, Odedra 38-11-83-2, Bamania 23-7-40-3, Mehta 1-0-4-0, Kotak 36.4-5-114-4.Saurashtra (2nd innings): S Tanna batting 10, A Merchant batting 4.Total: (for no loss in three overs) 14.Bowling: Panda 1-0-1-0, Kumar 1-0-5-0, Kumar 1-0-8-0.
