A round-up of the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match on Thursday.
Mumbai reach 180 for four against Tamil Nadu
Batting first in a truncated match, defending champions Mumbai reached 180 for four against Tamil Nadu in Chennai.
Wasim Jaffer (66) and Prashanth Naik (8) were at the crease when stumps were drawn after 57 overs. The match could commence only in the post-lunch session after wet outfield washed out the first day's play.
Mumbai began their first innings on a shaky note with both openers Onkar Gurav (8) and Sahkil Kukreja (17) departing early.
In-form Ajinkya Rahane and Jaffer then steadied the innings, adding 95 runs together before the former was clean bowled by medium pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji. Rahane made 49 with the help of four boundaries and a six.
Abhishek Nayar, who scored 20 (1x4, 2x6) was middling the ball well and it was looking as if he would consolidate the innings along with Jaffer. But he failed to sustain and was adjudged leg before wicket to Suresh Kumar.
For Tamil Nadu, Balaji took two for 17, while left arm spinner Aushik Srinivas and Suresh Kumar claimed a wicket each.
Himachal struggle against Orissa
Fast bowling duo of Basant Mohanty and A K Sahoo wrecked havoc as Orissa restricted Himachal Pradesh to 85 for six in their first innings in a rain-curtailed second day in Cuttack.
After the opening day's play was washed out because of rain without a single ball being bowled yesterday, Orissa skipper Debasis Mohanty opted to field today upon winning the toss and his bowlers reposed faith on his decision by suffocating the rival batsmen with their line and length.
Basant and Sahoo shared four wickets between them to trigger a collapse as Himachal Pradesh lost half their side for 76 in 34 overs at the Barabati Stadium.
Paras Dogra (24) was at the crease when stumps were drawn after only 37 overs could be bowled. Giving him company at the other end was R Dhawan at 2.
Joshi guts Baroda, Karnataka eye outright win
Former India spinner Sunil Joshi's four-wicket haul knocked the daylight out of Baroda's first innings reply and brightened Karnataka's prospect of an outright win in the Group B match in Mysore.
Having restricted Karnataka to 257 in their first innings, Baroda hoped for a fitting reply but were bundled out for paltry 169 in their first essay with Joshi wreaking havoc with his slow balls, here at the Gangothri Glades Cricket Ground.
Joshi was ably supported by medium pacers R Vinay Kumar and Sreenath Aravind, who shared four wickets between them to give the hosts a healthy first innings lead of 88 runs.
In reply, Karnataka were 41 for one in 17 overs at stumps in their second essay, with opener KB Pawan (15) and Ganesh Satish (17) at crease.
Karnataka now lead by 129 runs in their second innings with nine wickets remaining.
Makvana's ton lifts Saurashtra to big total
Kamlesh Makvana notched up his maiden first class century and shared 128 runs for the seventh wicket with Rahul Dave (72) to propel Saurashtra to a first innings total of 423 against Bengal in their Group A match in Rajkot.
Coming in to bat at the number eight position, Makvana scored a patient 108 off 290 balls before retiring hurt.
Makvana not only stitched a crucial partnership with Dave, who added just six runs to his overnight score, but also combined well with the tail-enders to take Saurashtra past the 400-run mark.
For Bengal, Ashok Dinda (3/105) and Saurasish Lahiri (3/64) scalped three wickets apiece while Sourav Sarkar accounted for two rival batsmen.
At stumps on day two of the four-day encounter, Bengal were 33 for the loss of one wicket.
Opener Arindam Das (4) was the lone Bengal batsman to fall, bowled by Jayesh Odedra. When stumps were drawn wicket-keeper Sreevats Goswami was batting on 19 and giving him company at the crease was Dibyendu Chakrabarty on six.
Earlier, resuming at 254 for six, Bengal tasted success early when Dave was caught by Goswami behind the stumps off Lahiri.
But a resolute Makvana was in no mood to give up. He stitched two crucial partnerships -- first 56 runs for the eighth wicket with Saurya Sanandiya (35) and then 70 runs with Odedra (20) -- to propel the home team to the big score.
Gony helps Punjab gain upper hand against Haryana
Fast bowler Manpreet Gony returned with a four-wicket haul to reduce Haryana to 153 for seven at stumps after Punjab posted a challenging 415 in the first innings on the second day of their Group B match in Rohtak.
Gony snapped the wickets of Nitin Saini (0), Ankit Rawat (32), Pardeep Sahu (1) and Joginder Sharma (5) and also engineered a run out of Rahul Dewan (6) to break Haryana's backbone.
Skipper Amit Mishra (11) and Sachin Rana (38) were at the crease when stumps were drawn at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.
Earlier resuming at 322/2, Uday Kaul (97) missed a deserving century by a whisker when he was bowled by Sanjay Budhwar.
However Mandeep Singh (112) completed his ton but could not stay on for a longer period as he bowled by Sunny Singh in the 115th over as Punjab lost half of its side at the score of 388.
Rana then rose to the occassion and triggered a collapse, scalping four wickets as Punjab finished their first innings at 415 in 125.5 overs.
In reply, Haryana had a nightmarish start as they lost three wickets within 10 overs with the scoreboard reading just 27.
Gujarat reach 294 for five against Assam
In a rain-curtailed match, Gujarat reached 294 for five against Assam in their Group A match in Guwahati.
Resuming at their overnight score of 233 for three, the visitors could add just 61 runs to the total in 25 overs of play that was possible today, by losing two wickets.
Bhavik Thaker, who resumed on 52, fell shortly after the match resumed. His stay at the crease was cut short by Ranjitkumar Mali for a well-made 65 from 141 balls studded with 8 fours and 2 sixes.
The other bataman in Sunny Patel, resuming on 41, on the other hand, played a fine innings and complete his half-century.
But Mali once again rose to the occasion for the hosts as he took his second wicket of the day by dismissing the new batsmen in Rajdeep Darbar (10) cheaply.
However, Sunny firmly stood his ground at the other end till the stumps were drawn on a weather-affected day, to remain unbeaten on 78. Giving him company at the other end was Mehul Patel (0).
