Madhya Pradesh 341 (Himanshu Mantri 165; Mukesh Kumar 4-66) and 281 (Aditya Shrivastava 80; Shahbaz Ahmed 5-79, Pradipta Pramanik 4-65) lead Bengal 273 (Shahbaz Ahmed 116, Manoj Tiwary 102; Puneet Datey 3-48) and 96/4 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 52*; Kumar Kartikeya 3-35) by 253 runs.
Madhya Pradesh are on the brink of qualifying for the Ranji Trophy final for the first time since 1998/99. They reduced Bengal to 96/4 by stumps on Day 4 at Alur. Bengal need another 254 to win. While Abhimanyu Easwaran (52*) and Anustup Majumdar (8*) are still at the crease and Shahbaz Ahmed is yet to follow, it will take a superlative effort for Bengal to win the match from here against a rampant Kumar Kartikeya, who has bowled nearly half the overs in this innings.
Earlier, MP lost their last eight wickets for 80 runs to be bowled out for 281. After Rajat Patidar (79) and Aditya Shrivastava (80) added 151 for the third wicket, Shahbaz (5-79) and Pradipta Pramanik (4-65) ran through the MP tail to keep Bengal in the hunt. However, the Bengal top order did not match the effort of their bowlers.
Mumbai 393 (Hardik Tamore 115, Yashasvi Jaiswal 100; Karan Sharma 4-46) and 449/4 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 181, Armaan Jaffer 127; Prince Yadav 2-69) lead Uttar Pradesh 180 (Shivam Mavi 48; Tushar Deshpande 3-34) by 662 runs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (181) followed his first-innings 100, while Armaan Jaffer got 127 against Uttar Pradesh in Bengaluru. They added 286 for the second wicket to bat UP out of the contest and virtually book a berth in the Ranji Trophy final. Resuming the day on 133/1, Mumbai batted through Day 4 to finish on 449/4. They currently lead by 662 runs. Some respite came UP's way when Prince Yadav (2-69) struck twice towards the evening.