Robin Uthappa's third century of the season powered Karnataka to 309 for six on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match against Tamil Nadu in Bangalore on Tuesday.

After electing to bat, Karnataka lost the wickets of Barrington Rowland (16) and debutant Gaurav Dhiman (0) early in their innings. But Uthappa (159) resurrected the hosts, putting on a 96-run stand for the third wicket with C Raghu (39).

Later, he notched another vital partnership with skipper K T Yere Goud (58 batting) for the fourth wicket to help his team reach a respectable score.

Uthappa played brilliantly in his stroke-filled 171-ball innings, during which he struck 21 fours and five sixes.

His impressive innings came to an end when he was trapped leg before by Yo Mahesh.

Later, Yere Goud combined with wicketkeeper-batsman Thilak Naidu for a 56-run stand for the fifth wicket to take his side past the 300-mark.

Meanwhile, Goud, who has played 80 matches for Railways, completed 5000 runs in Ranji Trophy during his innings.

Scorecard

Karnataka (1st Innings):
Barrington Rowland c Prasanna b C.Suresh 16
Robin Uthappa lbw V. Yo Mahesh 159
Gaurav Dhiman c and b C. Ganapathy 0
C. Raghu b C. Suresh 39
K.T. Yere Goud batting 58
V.S. Thilak Naidu lbw b R. Ashwin 13
Deepak Chougule c Prasanna b R. Ashwin 3
Sunil Joshi batting 1
Extras: (b-8, lb-2, nb-10) 20
Total: (for 6 wkts in 90 overs) 309

Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-45, 3-141, 4-241, 5-297, 6-301.

Bowling: V. Yo Mahesh 14-1-57-1, C. Ganapathy 16-5-37-1, C. Suresh 23-3-105-2, R. Ashwin 25-10-59-2, S. Badrinath 4-1-11-0, Hemang Badani 4-0-15-0, M. Vijay 4-0-15-0.