Young Shubman Gill hit a superb unbeaten 199 to power Punjab to 308 for two in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings score of 215 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Mohali, on Saturday.
The hosts wrapped up Tamil Nadu's innings in one over when R Sai Kishore (1) was run out by Baltej Singh, adding only two runs to its overnight score.
Punjab began its reply in a solid manner as 19-year-old Gill and Jiwanjot Singh (33) blunted the TN pace attack, comprising T Natarajan, M Mohammed and K Vignesh with a mix of caution and aggression.
While Jiwanjot showed a lot of patience and kept the rival bowlers at bay, Gill was all elegance as he unfurled numerous shots on both sides of the wicket. Some of the shots, especially the cover drives, stood out as he looked untroubled during his knock.
It was a struggle for the Tamil Nadu bowlers as Gill proved unstoppable, hitting shots at will while skipper Mandeep Singh (50 not out) batted in a calm manner at the other end.
Gill kept hitting boundaries and was not afraid to hit the ball in the air, while Mandeep overcame spells of slow scoring to keep the runs flowing.
Gill, one of the stars of India's triumph in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, spoken of highly by the legendary Rahul Dravid, underlined his class, unleashing beautiful strokes and never looked in trouble.
Bad light ended his quest for a maiden Ranji double ton and Gill would resume on Sunday hoping to extend Punjab's current lead of 93 and take control of the match.
He is the second Indian batsman after Rahul Dravid in Adelaide 2003, in first-class history to remain not out on 199 at the end of a day's play.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu 215 all out in 84 overs (Vijay Shankar 71; Manpreet Singh Grewal 5 for 55) vs Punjab 308 for 2 in 79 overs (Shubman Gill 199 not out, Mandeep Singh 50 not out).
At Hyderabad: Bengal 336 all out in overs (Abbimanyu Easwaran 186, Ravi Kiran 4 for 46) vs Hyderabad 20 for 1 in 9 overs.
At Amtar: Andhra 173 all out in 54.3 overs (Jyothisaikrishna 74, P P Jaiswal 5 for 50) vs Himachal Pradesh 320 for 5 in 111 overs (P P Chopra 65, A R Kalsi 103 not out, RR Dhawan 76).
Solanki hits unbeaten ton to lead Baroda's strong reply
Riding on one-down batsman Vishnu Solanki's unbeaten century and opener Aditya Waghmode's patient, unconquered fifty, Baroda made a strong reply to Mumbai's tall first innings total in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match in Mumbai.
Replying to the home team's tally of 465, Baroda had advanced to 244 for the loss of opener and captain Kedar Devdhar's wicket, 221 runs behind the Mumbai total at stumps on day two of the four-day
Waghmode and Solanki were not out on 87 and 128 respectively after the early fall of Devdhar to Shivam Dube for 11 against the listless Mumbai attack.
While Waghmode was circumspect for the large part and struck nine fours and two sixes in his 237-ball innings, his second wicket partner Solanki was a little bit more aggressive in his 231-ball innings, sprinkled with 17 fours.
The duo, who got together when Devdhar was trapped leg before in the second over with 12 on board, have added 232 runs so far.
Earlier, the 41-time champions -- overnight 439 for eight -- were dismissed in seven overs this morning.
Hardik Pandya, back in action after a near-three month-long injury lay-off, must have pleased the Indian selectors as he packed off overnight batsman Akash Parkar and Royston Dias to finish with an impressive five-wicket haul for 81 runs, by adding to the three scalps he secured on Friday.
Karsh Kothari, the other overnight unbeaten batsman, was dismissed by Bhatt who finished with four wickets to his credit.
Scores:
Mumbai 465 (Siddhesh Lad 130, Shreyas Iyer 178; Hardik Pandya 5-81) v Baroda 244 for 1 (A Waghmode not out 87, V Solanki not out 128).
Kerala's Saxena leaves Delhi in a mess
Kerala took a stranglehold of their Elite Ranji Trophy Group B game against Delhi, bowling out the visitors for 139 in the first innings and then reducing them to 41 for five in the second essay in Thiruvananthapuram.
Experienced all-rounder Jalaj Saxena was the star of the day as he took six wickets for 39 runs to help the host bundle out Delhi for 139 and gain a 181-run lead. Kerala's first innings ended at 320.
Only four Delhi batsmen reached double figures as Saxena ran through the line-up to set things up nicely for Kerala, who are aiming for a spot in the knockouts.
The Delhi batsmen did not fare any better in the second innings, slipping to 41 for five at stumps on the second day, as Sandeep Warrier prised out the openers.
Resuming at an overnight 291 for seven, Kerala could add only 29 runs, as Shivam Sharma took two more wickets to take his tally to six.
Delhi got off to a poor start, losing opener Sarthak Rajan (4) in the first over. Basil Thampi struck in the second over, having Hiten Dalal caught behind by Vishnu Vinod to leave Delhi at four for two.
Skipper Dhruv Shorey (30) and Vaibhav Rawal (18) went about repairing the damage before the latter became Saxena's first victim.
The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Saxena bowled a nagging line and length.
Delhi collapsed from 132 for six to 139 all out, as Saxena and Sijomon Joseph got among the wickets.
Brief scores:
Kerala 320 vs Delhi 139 all out in 66.2 overs (Jonty Sidhu 41; Jalaj Saxena 6 for 39) and 41 for 5 in 13 overs (Sandeep Warrier 3 for 16).
