Madhya Pradesh 294 and 81 for 2 (Mantri 51*, Gawli 15*, Mukesh 1-16) need another 356 runs to beat Rest of India 484 and 246 (Jaiswal 144, Shubham 2-9, Kushwah 2-44)
Yashasvi Jaiswal followed up his double-century in the first innings with 144 in the second as Rest of India had one hand on the Irani Cup at the end of day four in Gwalior. Chasing a tall 437, Madhya Pradesh lost two wickets late in the day, but captain Himanshu Mantri remained unbeaten on 51 to give his side some hope despite the huge target.
Resuming their day ahead by 275 runs, Rest of India lost six wickets in the opening session but still managed to swell the lead to 391. With variable bounce on display, the MP bowlers stuck to a wicket-to-wicket line and reaped rewards.
Avesh Khan struck first, cleaning Abhimanyu Easwaran up with a short-of-a-length ball that kept low and snuck below his bat to hit the stumps. In his next over, Avesh pinned Baba Indrajith plumb in front. Ankit Kushwah then got a wicket two balls later, sending Yash Dhull back for a first-ball duck before trapping Upendra Yadav lbw soon after.
Jaiswal, meanwhile, carried on merrily, smashing boundaries at will. He struck three fours in Saransh Jain's ninth over, the third getting him to his century off just 103 balls with 13 fours and a six until then.
A misjudgment in the calling brought about Atit Sheth's wicket who was run-out for 30, before Saurabh Kumar was dismissed leg before wicket by Jain. Rest of India went into lunch seven wickets down, but managed to score 116 runs in the session.
Jaiswal hacked Avesh for a six over deep midwicket after the break, as it helped the lead inch past 400. The left-hander was bowled by Jain, but not before smashing 357 runs in the match, the most by a batter in the history of the Irani Cup. Shubham Sharma wrapped the innings up with his part-time offspin, removing Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar off successive balls.
Mukesh then gave Rest of India the perfect start in their defense, trapping Arham Aquil in front of the stumps second ball, as Aquil bagged a pair on first-class debut. Shubham and Mantri then added 51 for the second wicket before the former was done in by a Saurabh arm ball that caught the batter playing down the wrong line. But Mantri notched up his half-century, and will have to dig deep to force a result for his side on the final day.
