Seventeen-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rajesh Dhuper scored a career-best 97 off 225 balls to help Odisha snatch the first-innings lead in response to Tamil Nadu's 530 for 8 dec in Cuttack. He came in at 310 for 5 after senior allrounder Biplab Samantray was stumped for 50 off Vijay Shankar on the final morning. He hung on for more than five hours and rallied the lower order before he was the ninth Odisha batsman to be dismissed with the hosts still five runs behind. Basant Mohanty and Dhiraj Singh, however, held their nerve to give Odisha three points.
While Odisha are out of contention for the knockouts, Tamil Nadu's season hangs in the balance. Abhinav Mukund's men do not have a single outright win after four matches, and need to win their remaining two home games that have been moved out of Chennai.
Resuming on 286 for 4, the hosts lost Samantray in the 16th over of the day, before Shantanu Mishra (71) and Dhuper added 42 for the sixth wicket. Dhuper then added fifty stands with Alok Sahoo (36), Suryakant Pradhan (43) and Mohanty (18*) to haul the side past 500. Seam-bowling allrounder Yo Mahesh claimed three wickets while offspinning allrounder Washington Sundar ended with four.
Andhra consolidated their position at the top of the Group C table after bagging three points from the fifth-round fixture against Tripura in Agartala. This was Andhra's fourth draw in five games, and it pushed their tally up to 18.
Defending 321, Andhra kept Tripura to 272 for 5 in the fourth innings, despite wicketkeeper-batsman Smit Patel's unbeaten 107 off 99 balls, his second hundred in two matches. Udiyan Bose hit a 46-ball 53, and Tripura scored at nearly five runs per over in their innings of 56 overs but had to settle for only one point. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt picked up two wickets, extending his match haul to six.
Starting the day on 51 for 1, Andhra progressed to 234 for 4 in 46 overs at a run rate of just over five, before declaring their second innings. Each of their top six moved into double figures with opener KS Bharat top-scoring with 50 off 79 balls. Seamer Rana Dutta claimed three wickets for Tripura.
