Karnataka gained the uppper hand against defending champions Uttar Pradesh after taking the first innings lead on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match in Kanpur on Sunday.

Replying to Uttar Pradesh's first innings of 264, the visitors scored 296 for seven at close.

Though there was no single big innings from the Karnataka batsmen, they stitched four 50-plus partnerships that made the task easy.

Rowland Barrington was the top scorer with 51 while Robin Uthappa made 35.

The duo were involved in a 57-run opening stand and thereafter Barrington added 60 runs for the second wicket with Bharat Chipli.

Captain Yere Goud and Thilak Naiu then added 73 runs for fifth wicket which was followed by a 62-run association between the latter and Sunil Joshi.

At close, Joshi was batting on 38 with Stuart Binny at the other end.

For the hosts, skipper Mohammad Kaif, Rudra Pratap Singh and Praveen Kumar bagged two wickets each.

Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings):
Shivakant Shukla lbw b Vinay Kumar 0
Tanmay Srivastava lbw b Vinay Kumar 16
Mohd. Kaif b Sunil Joshi 91
Suresh Raina lbw b Vinay Kumar 0
Praveen Kumar c B Akhil b Appanna 17
Ravi Kant Shukla c B Akhil b C Raghu 35
Jyoti Yadav c Thilak Naidu b Sunil Joshi 40
Piyush Chawla [Images] c Uthappa b Vinay Kumar 38
Mohd Amir c Thilak Naidu b Sunil Joshi 1
Rudra Pratap Singh b Vinay Kumar 2
Shalabh Srivastava not out 7
Extras: (b-2, lb-3, nb-2) 7
Total: (all out in 102.4 overs) 264

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-17, 3-17, 4-62, 5-142, 6-206, 7-217, 8-247, 9-257.

Bowling: Vinay Kumar 22.4-12-47-5, Stuart Binny 13-2-62-0, B Akhil 19-10-25-0, K P Appanna 16-2-54-1, Sunil Joshi 23-7-51-3, C Raghu 9-3-20-1.

Karnataka (1st innings):
R Barrington c sub b R P Singh 51
R Uthappa c Srivastava b Praveen Kumar 35
B Chipli c Praveen Kumar b R P Singh 47
C Raghu c Kaif b Chawla 8
Y Goud b Praveen Kumar 44
T Naidu lbw Kaif 45
S Joshi batting 38
B Akhil b Kaif 4
S Binny batting 6
Extras: (b-1, lb-5, nb-10, w-2) 18
Total: (for 7 wkts in 81 overs) 297

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-117, 3-149, 4-149, 5-222, 6-284, 7-288.

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 21-3-72-2, Rudra Pratap Singh 18-5-57-2, Shalabh Srivastava 12-2-48-0, Piyush Chawla 23-4-80-1, Mohd. Kaif 7-0-33-2.