Mithun, Vinay fire Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh
Bangalore: Seamers Abhimanyu Mithun and R Vinay Kumar wreaked havoc as Karnataka reduced Uttar Pradesh to 221 for nine, giving themselves a good chance to grab first innings lead.
Mithun was the most successful bowler with figures of four for 70 but Vinay was the most difficult as he picked up three wickets after conceding 49 runs in 18 overs. Mithun removed Prashant Gupa (0), Mohammad Kaif (0), Chawla (56) and Amit Mishra (4), while Vinay picked up Tanmay Srivastava (32), Mukul Dagar (13) and Eklavya Dwivedi (2).
Pacer H S Sharath and part-time spinner Robin Uthappa picked one wicket each. Sharath removed Ali Murtaza (1) caught behind by Gautam, who claimed first of the three catches in the day. UP is still 128 runs behind Karnataka’s first innings score of 349 and it is a clear-cut edge for the hosts as they have to get just one wicket at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
For UP, Parvinder Singh was the lone crusader with the bat as he missed his century by eight runs. He was the last man to be dismissed by part-timer Robin Uthappa. He made 92 runs off 181 balls with 13 boundaries.
The 110-run partnership between Parvinder (92) and Piyush Chawla (56) for the seventh wicket raised hopes for the visitors to wriggle out of the turmoil, but inform Mithun had the latter caught behind by Chidambaram Gautam to bring back the game in their favour.
Brief Scores
Karnataka: 349 (Uthappa 100, Nair 100, Gautam 100, Mishra 6-106) lead Uttar Pradesh 221 for 9 (Parvinder 92 batting, Chawla 56, Mithun 4-70, Uthappa 1-0) by 128 runs.
Thakur puts Mumbai on top
Maharashtra vs Mumbai
Mumbai: Young Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur produced an incisive four-wicket haul after the home team’s tail wagged merrily to put the defending champions in total command.
Thakur bent his back on the bouncy Wankhede wicket and produced fiery spells, backed up by a very attacking umbrella field behind the wicket on both sides, to shake up the Maharashtra batting line up after Mumbai ran up a huge first innings total of 402.
Thakur, who went into his sixth game of the season with 21 wickets under his belt, ended the day with highly impressive figures of 4 for 62 that shook up Maharashtra who were reduced to 24 for 3 before recovering to 219 for 7 at stumps on day two of the five-day game.
The visitors’ score was mainly built around the 115-run fourth wicket partnership in 146 balls between top-scorer Ankit Bawne (84) and Kedar Jadhav (51) whose dismissals within the space of half an hour post tea spelt further trouble for Maharashtra.
The batsmen holding fort at close were Shrikant Mundhe (14) and Akshay Darekar (16). Maharashtra were facing an uphill task as they were 183 runs behind the home team, with little batting left to come on Friday. The 22-year-old Thakur, in only his second season for the 40-time champions, packed off openers Harshad Khadiwale and rival captain Rohit Motwani cheaply in the first spell of four overs to push Maharashtra on the backfoot very early.
Brief Scores
Mumbai: 402 (Jaffer 44, Indulkar 82, Yadav 120, Abdulla 49*) lead Maharashtra 219 for 7 (Bawne 84, Jadhav 51, Thakur 4-62) trail by 183 runs.
Rasool ton makes it even
Punjab vs Jammu & Kashmir
Vadodara: Skipper Parveez Rasool led from the front with a scintillating century as Jammu and Kashmir fought back gallantly to leave tie against strong contenders Punjab evenly poised.
In reply to Punjab’s first innings score of 304, Jammu and Kashmir rode on Rasool’s gutsy 103 off 137 balls before folding up for 277, conceding a slender first innings lead of 27 runs on the second day.
J&K seamers Umar Nazir and Mohammed Mudhasir then struck two early blows to remove the in-form openers Jiwanjot Singh (8) and Manan Vohra (7) cheaply. At stumps, Punjab were struggling at 15 for two, having an overall lead of 42.
With Ranji quarter-finals being a five-day affair, there is every possibility that this slender first innings lead will be of little consequence as the match is expected to have an outright result with three full days left.
The day belonged to Rasool, who showed that he is ready to go one up on Harbhajan as he hit 11 fours and a lovely six over deep mid-wicket off veteran India off-spinner’s bowling. He completed his fifth first-class century with a couple of boundaries. The ton came off 131 balls.
Rasool had two important partnerships during the course of the Jammu and Kashmir innings.
Brief Scores
Punjab 304 & 15/2 lead J&K 277 (Perveez Rasool 103, Adil Rishi 65, Samiullah Beigh 37, Sandeep Sharma 4/46) by 42 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Rawat hits hundred
Bengal vs Railways
Kolkata: Railways’ experienced campaigner Mahesh Rawat proved to be the thorn in the flesh for Bengal as he stood tall with an unbeaten century to lead the visiting team’s recovery.
Propelled by Rawat’s unbeaten 105 in an undefeated 191-run partnership with Arindam Ghosh (78 batting) Railways ended day two at 233/5, trailing Bengal by only 84 runs with five wickets in hand.
In reply to Bengal’s challenging first innings total of 317, Railways were tottering at 42/5 after losing three wickets for four runs just after lunch when Ashoke Dinda was firing on all cylinders with veteran Shib Shankar Paul giving a good back-up.
But the Railways wicketkeeper-batsman, counter-attacked Dinda with six successive classical boundaries before turning around the match for the visitors.
The flurry of boundaries against Bengal’s strike bowler derailed the home side and it failed to recover from the slide. luck too went in favour of Rawat, who survived a run-out scare when he was on 28.
Barring this, it was a chance-less knock by Rawat and he executed his shots to perfection. Bengal’s bowling was reduced to a two-pace attack in Dinda and Paul with Sourav Sarkar lacking in intensity.
Brief Scores
Bengal: 317; 101.5 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 87; Anureet Singh 4/88) lead Railways: 233/5 (Mahesh Rawat 105 batting, Arindam Ghosh 78 batting; Ashok Dinda 3/83, Shib Shankar Paul 2/36) by 84 runs.