Fine half-centuries by Gagan Khoda (61) and Rahul Kanwat (54) helped Rajasthan take a vital 23 run first innings lead against Karnataka on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' league match at the Mansarovar Stadium, Jaipur, on Monday.

Replying to Karnataka's first innings total of 145, Rajasthan rode on a 105 run partnership for the sixth wicket between Khoda and Kanwat to reach 168.

Resuming at 111 for 5, Khoda and Kanwat converted their overnight scores into fifties. Khoda's 61 runs came in 215 minutes and 146 balls with seven fours, while Kanwat's 54 came in 144 minutes off 102 balls and was studded with nine fours.

For the visitors, Doddanarsaiah Ganesh with 5 for 72 and B K Venkatesh Prasad with 4 for 51 were the successful bowlers.

At stumps, Karnataka were 129 for one in their second essay with Rowland Barrington (48) and Sushindra Shinde (2) at the crease when umpires called off play due to bad light.

Karnataka were given a solid start by J Arunkumar who made 58 in 129 balls with six boundaries before falling to former Indian international Sanjeev Sharma at 129.

Scoreboard:
Karnataka (1st innings): 145
Rajasthan (1st innings):
Vineet Saxena c Naidu b Prasad          12
Gagan Khoda c Prasad b Binny            61
Rohit Jhalani lbw b Prasad                     1
Pankaj Gupta b Prasad                          0
P Krishnakumar c Barrington b Ganesh   3
Anshul Jain b Ganesh                            2
Rahul Kanwat c Prasad b Ganesh         54
Sanjeev Sharma c Naidu b Prasad          4
Anup Dave not out                                11
Kishan Choudhary c Naidu b Ganesh      2
Sumit Mathur b Ganesh                         0
Extras: (lb-7, nb-4, w-7)                        18
Total: (all out in 60 overs)                   168
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-37, 3-39, 4-42, 5-45, 6-150, 7-150, 8-158, 9-168
Bowling: B K Venkatesh Prasad 24-5-51-4, D Ganesh 26-2-72-5, Sunil Joshi 5-1-18-0, Udit Patel 1-0-10-0, Stuart Binny 4-1-10-1.

Karnataka (2nd innings):
J Arun Kumar c Choudhary b Sharma       58
Rowland Barrington batting                      48
Sushindra Shinde batting                          2
Extras: (b-7, lb-6, nb-4, w-4)                    21
Total: (for 1 wicket in 53 overs)              129
Fall of wicket: 1-115
Bowling: Sumit Mathur 9-3-16-0, Kishan Choudhary 14-2-35-0, Rahul Kanwat 8-1-22-0, P Krishnakumar 8-3-10-0, Sanjeev Sharma 8-1-18-1, Anup Dave 5-0-14-0, Pankaj Gupta 1-0-1-0.