Bowled out for just 170 in their first innings, Tripura found themselves in dire straits again at 62 for three when play ended on the third day. Leggie KN Ananthapadmanabhan did immense damage to the tourists' batting in their first innings, scalping seven for 39 in 24.1 overs and destroying the line-up. Only TK Chanda offered any resistance, making 61. Ananthapadmanabhan had bowled only two overs in the second innings before stumps.

At Nagpur, Goa were dismissed early on the third day for 262, a lead of 74 for hosts Vidarbha. Opener Amit Deshpande's unbeaten 157 (230b, 17x4, 1x6) then gave Vidarbha enough runs to declare at 294 for three, setting Goa a target of 369 for victory. The tourists lost their captain in the very first over to Chandrasekhar Atram and were 10 for one at stumps.

Karnataka comprehensively demolished Jammu & Kashmir at Bangalore, converting their overnight 77 for three to 163 all out. Venkatesh Prasad took three wickets and chipped in with three more in Jammu & Kashmir's second innings, which ended on a paltry 114 and gave the hosts a win by an innings and 321 runs.

A Shafiq Khan century enabled Haryana to bounce back from 166 for six to 285 at Rohtak, thereby conceding a lead of only 13 runs. Shafiq hit 107 (240b, 12x4) and was given good support by Joginder Sharma (75, 155b, 11x4). Maharashtra's second innings was poised at 124 for two at the close of play, with Hrishikesh Kanitkar unbeaten on 47 and Abhijit Kale on 20.

At Indore, Madhya Pradesh completed the formalities by bowling Bihar out for 201 in their second innings and notching up a win by an innings and 38 runs. Although the Bihar batting showed more spine than in the first innings - with skipper Rajiv Kumar making 49 and S Panda an unbeaten 46 - they were no match for Yogesh Golwalkar's leg-spin. The leggie took 5-57 off 23 overs to hasten Bihar's end.

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