Powar century puts Mumbai
in command

Lower order batsman Ramesh Powar's magnificent 104 and his 131-run ninth-wicket partnership with Nilesh Kulkarni (54) helped Mumbai score 403 on the second day of the Elite Group 'A' Ranji Trophy match against Andhra Pradesh, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday.

In reply, the visitors were struggling at 79 for five off 45.1 overs in their first innings when bad light stopped play with still 2.5 overs to be bowled for the day.

At stumps R V Ch Prasad and left-hander G Shankar Rao were batting on eight and three respectively.

Mumbai new-ball bowler Avishkar Salvi took three wickets for 31 runs from 14 overs and would be the bowler to watch on Friday, day 3 of the match.

Earlier, Mumbai, resuming at 245 for eight, saw a determined effort from overnight batsmen Powar and Kulkarni, who put on 131 runs in 39.3 overs.

Powar, who entertained a small crowd with some lusty hitting, scored 104 in 264 minutes, which included ten fours and two sixes, while Kulkarni's 54 came in 173 minutes. It included seven hits to fence and a six.

Mumbai, who were struggling at 103 for six at one stage, did well to finish on 403.

Powar, who was the last man out, was caught by I Srinivas off spinner Venugopal Rao for 104 while Kulkarni too fell to the guiles of Rao, giving an easy catch to Hemal Vatekar.

Chopra, Gambhir put Delhi on top

Masterly knocks by openers Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir put hosts Delhi in a commanding position on the second day of the Elite Group 'A' Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh in Delhi on Thursday.

Both the batsmen hit centuries as Delhi closed the day on a comfortable 240 for one, with Gambhir not out on 109 and Pradeep Chawla on eight.

Chopra, the lone Delhi batsman to be dismissed today, was out leg before to Ashok Thakur after compiling a well-made 105.

Delhi are just four runs behind Himachal Pradesh's first innings score of 244, and with nine wickets still standing, they are all set to take an intimidating lead.

Both Chopra and Gambhir, who seemed to have no problems on the pitch that troubled all Himachal batsmen on the opening day, played beautiful shots all around the ground and put on 211 runs for the first wicket.

Giving no respite to the Himachal bowlers, who paid the penalty for not pitching in at the right spot and erring in line and length, the openers accumulated runs at a steady rate.

Left-hander Gambhir, on a high after scoring a double ton against Railways in Delhi's first match of the Ranji season, gave little chance to the opposition and in the company of Chopra treated the bowlers with disdain.

However, it was Chopra who notched the century first. He flicked Ashish Kapoor to the fine-leg fence to bring his hundred, much to the delight of the home team's supporters.

Dinesh Karthik enables TN recover

Teenager Dinesh Karthik's unbeaten 76 pulled Tamil Nadu out of the woods as they reached 238 for nine on the second day of the Elite Group 'B' Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh in Chennai on Thursday.

Ashish Winston Zaidi rocked the Tamil Nadu innings with a five-wicket haul that reduced them to 106 for five at one stage. But the 17-year-old Karthik rescued the team with his invaluable knock.

At close, Karthik (76, 12x4) and L Balaji (4) were at the crease, with the hosts still needing another 67 runs to surpass UP's first innings total of 304.

With Tamil Nadu hopelessly placed at 106 for five in 50.4 overs, Karthik walked in and impressed all with his chanceless knock.

Karthik, who made his debut in the previous match against Baroda, showed lot of promise and temperament in his 173-minute stay at the wicket.

Resuming at the overnight score of 12 without loss, Sadagopan Ramesh was the first to be dismissed, being caught by Anshul Kapoor off Zaidi. Suresh also did not last long and the hosts found themselves reduced to 40 for 2. Suresh was out to a brilliant catch by keeper Javed Anwar for 15.

After the left-handed Sriram (29, 3x4) was run-out, Hemang Badani, who did not score in the Baroda match, failed once again, giving Zaidi his third wicket.

Sharath (21), who has been a consistent scorer, disappointed as he was caught at mid-on by Praveen Gupta off Ratnesh Mishra. But Karthik put on useful partnerships to stem the rot to some extent.

Assam take first innings lead over Punjab

Hosts Assam took a vital 53-run first innings lead and then claimed three Punjab wickets cheaply to gain the upper hand on the second day of the four-day Elite group Ranji Trophy match at the Nehru stadium in Guwahati on Thursday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 23 for two, in reply to Punjab's first innings score of 177, the hosts also found the going tough, with only Kiron Pawar managing to hang on for some time with a resolute 47 as wickets fell at regular intervals.

The hosts were precariously placed at 155 for eight at one stage but some lusty hitting by Sukhwinder Singh (21) and Mark Ingty (36 not out) helped the team to score 230 in their first innings.

Both Sukhwinder Singh and Ingty dashed Punjab's hopes of securing the first innings lead as they unleashed a flurry of attacking strokes to take the total beyond the 200 mark which looked doubtful at one stage. Ingty was the more aggresive of the two, slamming two fours and a six.

For the visitors, paceman Amit Uniyal continued to impress with figures of five for 65 while spinner Navdeep Singh took four for 64.

Orissa faces humilating defeat

Fiery pace bowling by Baroda speedsters Irfan Pathan (Jr) and Rakesh Patel destroyed Orissa as the hosts faced a humiliating defeat on the second day of their four-day Elite group Ranji Trophy match at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Thursday.

Replying to Baroda's first innings total of 407, Orissa were bundled out for a meagre 131 in 159 minutes.

Forced to follow-on 276 runs behind, Orissa were 31 for two at close of play.

Both Pathan and Patel bowled with a lot of fire as the daunting Orissa batting line-up caved in like a pack of cards. Pathan (6 for 31), who missed a hat-trick chance, was aided by the lack of application by the home batsmen.

Patel, who picked two for 42, grabbed both the wickets with no runs on the board when Orissa began their second knock.

Earlier, Baroda, resuming at the overnight score of 278 for three, added 129 runs more before being bowled out for 407.

Opener Satyajit Parab, who was unbeaten on 116 yesterday, was bowled by speedster Debasish Mohanty -- the most successful home bowler, capturing 4 for 69 -- after adding 25 runs to his score.

The other medium pacers Ajay Barik (3 for 99) and debutant Sujan Mohanty (1 for 69) shared the spoils.

Sujith Somasundar scores double ton

Opener Sujith Somasundar's career-best knock of 222 and middle-order batsman Ajay Kuduva's brilliant century enabled Kerala amass 457 runs in their first innings against Tripura on the second day of the Plate group Ranji Trophy match in Kochi in Thursday.

At close of play, Tripura were 60 for one, with Ritesh Jaiswal, on 26, and Timir Chanda, on 15, at the crease.

Resuming at 269 for 4, Somadunder (169 overnight) and Kuduva (12 overnight), batted with consummate ease and scored 119 runs in the morning session without being separated.

Kerala were 434 for 4 at lunch with Sujith on 213 and Kuduva on 79.

Tripura struck soon after resumption as Kerala lost four wickets, that of Sujith, Nathani (0), Ananthapadmanabhan (0) and M Sureshkumar (4), for the addition of just 16 runs, off-spinner Joyanta Debanath doing the bulk of the damage.

Sujith departed, lofting Joyanta to Rasudeb Dutta at deep mid-wicket. His 434-ball knock was studded with 25 boundaries and two sixes.

Meanwhile, Kuduva completed his century, the fourth of his career. He finally fell, caught by Joyanta in the covers while trying to hit out against S D Gupal, for 130 (210 b, 2x6, 14x4) to bring an end to the Kerala innings 29 minutes before tea.

For the visitors, Joyanta bagged 6/101.

Goa fightback against Vidarbha

In a spirited fightback, Goa rallied splendidly to reach 255 for 9 in reply to Vidarbha's score of 336 all out on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Plate 'B' tie at VCA ground in Nagpur on Thursday.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 303 for seven, the hosts could add just 33 runs before being all out in 99 overs.

Alind Naidu, who was batting on 76 overnight, was trapped leg before by Faizal Sheikh after adding just eight runs.

Faizal Sheikh claimed all the three wickets which fell today to return with the figures of 8 for 111 off 37 overs.

In reply, Goa began sedately, putting on 66 for the opening wicket through Sagun Kamat (58) and Vivek Kolamkar (18).

However, the introduction of the spin duo of Preetam Gandhe (3-75) and Madhusudan Acharya (4-71) reduced the visitors to 184 for 9 at one stage. With only three runs needed to save the follow-on, Shadab Jakati (74 not out) and Faizal Sheikh (20 not out) rallied the side to a position of hope.

Haryana in trouble against Maharashtra

An unbeaten 81 by middle-order batsman Shafiq Khan and 93-run partnership for the fifth-wicket between him and Vikram Dhariwal (25) helped hosts Haryana score 166 runs for the loss of six wickets at the close of the second day's play in their four-day Ranji Trophy match against Maharashtra, in Rohtak, on Thursday.

Earlier, Maharashtra resumed batting an the overnight score of 250 for 8 before being bowled out for 298.

Khan and Joginder Sharma were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.

Maharashtra medium pacer Ranjit Khirid (3 for 31) was the most successful bowler, while Mandar Sane (2 for 31) and Mander Dalvi (1 for 31) were the other wicket-takers for Maharashtra.

Mandar Sane was not out on 30.

For Haryana, Amit Mishra (4 for 71) and Joginder Sharma (3 for 96) were the two most successful bowlers.

Nikhil Doru puts Rajasthan in command

A fine unbeaten century by middle-order batsman Nikhil Doru put hosts Rajasthan in command against Hyderabad on the second day of an Elite Ranji Trophy Group 'A' match in Jaipur on Thursday.

Doru's 104 and his 139-run seventh wicket stand with Sanjeev Sharma (76) gave Rajasthan a first innings lead of 120 runs as they reached 332 for seven at stumps, replying to Hyderabad's 212.

Mohd Aslam was the other not out batsman, on 3.

Resuming at the overnight score of 75 for one, Rajasthan began shakily, losing the wicket of Vineet Saxena (40) caught by Khalil off medium pacer N P Singh.

The visitors then struck at regular intervals, sending back Rahul Kanwat (29), skipper P Krishna Kumar (17), K Devra (0) and Rohit Jhalani (18) to reduce Rajasthan to 181 for six.

At lunch, Rajasthan were precariously placed at 158 for five.

But Sanjeev Sharma gave solid support to Doru and the two slowly put the Rajasthan innings back on the rails.

Doru reached his century facing 250 balls after grafting for 356 minutes. Sharma's fine knock, which lasted 195 minutes and 159 balls, was brought to an end by veteran spinner Venkatapathy Raju, who bowled well, conceding 34 runs in 24 overs.

N P Singh and Daniel Manohar were, however, the most successful bowlers for Hyderabad, taking a couple of wickets each.

Karnataka score 598 for three decl.

Barrington Rowland cracked an unbeaten double century as Karnataka piled a massive 598 for three declared before reducing Jammu and Kashmir to a precarious 77 for three on the second day of the Plate Group 'B' Ranji Trophy match in Bangalore on Thursday.

Rowland remained unconquered on 237 (636m, 455b, 21x4), enabling the hosts to take the driver's seat.

Along with wicketkeeper V S Thilak Naidu (167 not out), Rowland, batting on 111 at stumps yesterday, ripped apart a mediocre J & K bowling attack and plundered runs at will, as Karnataka, 295 for two overnight, added 303 runs today before declaring their first innings.

The only Karnataka wicket to fall today was that of Vijay Bharadwaj, who was snapped up behind the stumps by Arshad Bhat off Surinder Singh Bagal for 17.

Naidu's enterprising knock, which included 22 fours and a six, came in 219 minutes off 164 balls. He put on 281 runs with Rowland for the unfinished fourth wicket.

In reply, Jammu and Kashmir were 77 for three at close. Opener Arshad Bhat made 25 (3x4) before being trapped leg before by Dodda Ganesh.

Then, Sunil Joshi sent back Fayaz Ahmed Harari for 23, caught by Dodda Ganesh, and Kanwaljit Singh, who was adjudged lbw for 13, in quick succession to return with impressive figures of 8-4-6-2.

Bihar forced to follow on against MP

Bihar were forced to follow-on against Madhya Pradesh in their Plate 'B' Ranji Trophy match in Indore on Thursday, after being dismissed cheaply for 140, in reply to the hosts' first innings total of 379, on the second day of the four-day match.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 332 for six, the remaining MP batsman could not contribute much and the team was bowled out for 379.

In reply, Bihar openers Tariqur Rehman (15) and Moinak Sengupta began confidently. But before they could settle, leggie Narendra Hirwani bowled Rehman to give the first blow to Bihar, when the scoreboard read 22.

In the 11th over, Sanjay Pandey bowled Sengupta (6) and Bihar were in trouble when Manish Kumar (8) was caught by Amay Khurasia off Hirwani in 17th over. Later, Hirwani also claimed the wickets of C M Jha (4) and M S Dhoni (4).

However, Rajiv Kumar (63, 4x9) and Mihir Diwakar (13) added 54 runs for the eighth wicket to give some semblance of respectability to Bihar's innings.

But, H S Sodhi bowled Diwakar to end the partnership and later also trapped Rajiv leg before to seal Bihar's innings.

In their second innings, Yogesh Golwalkar claimed the wickets of opening pair of Ranjan (16) and Sengupta (13) as Bihar were again off to a disastrous start.

At draw of stumps, Diwakar and Rehman were unbeaten on two and four respectively.

Mail Cricket Editor