Maharashtra had a modest total to defend, and Delhi made best use of the equally modest attack line. Aakash Chopra, who was on 12 yesterday, hit up a 73 with eight boundaries, while Mitthun Manhas scored one more.

Veteran Rajat Bhatia, who scalped five Maharashtra wickets yesterday to restrict the home team, was wonderful with the bat as well today, batting on 66, with three fours and two sixes.

His captain, Test discard Virender Sehwag, however, failed to recapture form and was out for 6.

Brief scores:

Maharashtra 219.

Delhi 278/5 (A Chopra 73, M Manhas 74, R Bhatia 66 batting; S Fallah 2/69).

•In Chennai, gaining a slender 11-run first innings lead over Himachal, Tamil Nadu were 19 for one at close on the second day.

Replying to Tamil Nadu’s 234 all out, Himachal, resuming at overnight 10 for one, lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 223. Only wicketkeeper batsman M S Bisla, P Dogra, A Mannu, Sarandeep Singh and V Bhatia managed to reach double figures.

Bisla top-scored with 61 with six hits to the fence while Dogra made a useful 49 (seven fours).

For Tamil Nadu, medium pacer Yo Mahesh was the chief wicket-taker claiming four for 40 and Amarnath (two for 45) and C Suresh (two for 39) also contributed.

Tamil Nadu suffered an early loss in their second essay when M Vijay (9) was out with the team total on 17.

Opening partner Abhinav Mukund (5) and Gopinath (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu’s 234 & 19/1.

Himachal 223 (M S Bisla 61, P Dogra 49; Yo Mahesh 4/40).

Other Scores

Super League:

• Siliguri: Orissa 99 and 82 /3 need another 51 runs to beat Bengal 107 and 124 (D Mohanty 4/38)

• Hyderabad: Andhra 159 and 72 /6 (M P Arjun 6/25) lead Hyderabad 132 by 99 runs

• Mysore: Karnataka 216/9 (KB Pawan 110 n.o., Jobanputra 6/69) trail Saurashtra 245 by 29 runs

• Amritsar: Punjab 496/8 (R Inder 142, K Goel 127, A Kakkar 56 n.o., S Sohal 55) v Baroda

• Jhalawar: Rajasthan 175/9(R Bishnoi 52, NS Doru 50 n.o.; R Powar 4/52, trail Mumbai 295 by 120 runs

Plate Group:

• Rohtak: Madhya Pradesh 109/4 (N V Ojha 45, A Mishra 2/17) trail Haryana 302 by 193 runs.

• Guwahati: Assam 68/1 (P Das 35 n.o.) trail Tripura 460 by 392 runs.

• Surat: Gujarat 154 & 2/0 trail Kerala by 340 runs

• Jammu: Goa 104/4 (M V Joglekar 24 n.o, A Ratra 29 n.o.) trail J&K 147 by 43 runs.

• Nagpur: Vidarbha 163& 237/4 (A Paunikar 102, F Fazal 80; R Kuamr 4/70) lead Services by 309 runs.