Saurashtra's middle-order batter Sheldon Jackson followed in senior teammate Cheteshwar Pujara's footsteps, completing his century on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group A tie against Rajasthan to guide the defending champions to a 300-plus total in Jaipur on Saturday.
In reply, the hosts were in dire straits at stumps at 159 for 6.
Jackson (116) added to Pujara's century on the opening day to ensure a healthy 328 all out for Saurashtra in 116.5 overs, before veteran left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Yuvrajsinh Dodiya tormented the Rajasthan batters, grabbing three wickets apiece.
Rajasthan still trail the defending champions by 169 runs thanks to Jadeja, who returned figures of 3/68 in 23 overs, and Dodiya, who bowled superbly for his three wickets for 62 runs.
The morning session belonged to Saurashtra. The 37-year-old Jackson, who is approaching the 7,000-run mark, reached his 21st first-class century after resuming at his overnight score of 78.
Jackson, who had forged a 168-run stand for the fourth wicket with Pujara on Friday, completed his century off 249 delivers, hitting eight boundaries and four maximums before he was clean bowled by left-arm spinner Kukna Ajay Singh.
Jadeja's 34 later on in the innings saw Saurashtra get past the 300-run mark and put Rajasthan under pressure.
For the hosts, Ajay Singh (5/120) emerged as the most successful bowler, taking his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, while left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary had figures of 4/33.
Singh's inability to stem the flow of runs, however, took the sheen away from his achievement.
Rajasthan openers Yash Kothari (9) and Sumit Godara (12) departed cheaply after struggling to negotiate the Saurashtra bowlers and collectively consuming 90-plus deliveries.
At 59/3, Rajasthan were in a mess but a 66-run stand between captain Deepak Hooda (36) and Kunal Rathore (33) helped them cross the 100-run mark. The pair's dismissal later in the day virtually ended Rajasthan's hopes of taking a first-innings lead.
Vidarbha dominate Maharashtra
In Pune, Vidarbha took a huge 231-run first-innings lead against Maharashtra after scoring 439 for 6 in 106 overs on day 2, with India player Karun Nair scoring an unbeaten 128 (18x4).
Maharashtra's first innings had folded at 208 on the opening day itself with Aditya Sarwate taking three wickets.
Vidarbha opener Dhurav Shorey was unlucky to miss a century, getting caught by Kedhar Jahdav off Ashay Palkar at 92, though he and Yash Rathod (42) put together a 111-run partnership to set a solid foundation.
Another century partnership (149 runs) between Karun Nair and skipper Akshay Wadkar (90) for the fifth wicket, helped Vidarbha take a massive first-innings lead.
Brief Scores:
In Jaipur: Saurashtra 228 in 116.5 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 110; Sheldon Jackson 116; K Ajay Singh 5/120, Aniket Choudhary 4/33) vs Rajasthan 159 for 6 in 61 overs (Deepak Hooda 36, Kunal Singh Rathore 33; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3/68, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 3/62).
In Pune: Maharashtra 208 all out vs Vidarbha 439 for 6 in 106 overs (Dhruv Shorey 92, Karun Nair batting 128, Akshay Wadkar 90; Ashay Palkar 2/100).
In Jamshedpur: Haryana 509 in 134.5 overs (Ankit Kumar 109, Himanshu Rana 82, Rahul Tewatia 144, Sumit Kumar 86; Anukul Roy 5/80) vs Jharkhand 119 for 9 in 38.2 overs (Jayant Yadav 4/35, Sumit Kumar 3/9).
In Ahmedabad: Manipur 67 and 51 for 6 in 32 overs (Arjun Sharma 2/5, Pulkit Narang 2/2) vs Services 333 in 106.1 overs (Ravi Chauhan 108, Rajat Paliwal 122; Bishworjit Konthoujam 3/97, Bikash Singh 3/95).
Dhawan's unbeaten 95 puts Himachal in control
Veteran all-rounder Rishi Dhawan's unbeaten 95 and a patient 85 by opener Ravi Thakur took Himachal Pradesh to 311 for eight at stumps against Delhi on the second day of their sixth round Group D Ranji Trophy match in Dharamsala on Saturday.
Delhi scored 264 on the opening day and the hosts currently enjoy a lead of 47 runs and with two wickets still intact. They would like to increase it in order to put pressure on a brittle Delhi batting line-up which crossed 275 only once this season.
Starting the day at 24 for 1, Himachal Pradesh were reduced to 169 for five at one stage but Dhawan consolidated the innings with his run-a-ball knock that comprised 16 boundaries and a six.
The maximum was a pulled six off left-arm pacer Siddhant Sharma over square-leg while Himanshu Chauhan also got hit for half a dozen of boundaries.
Siddhant (4/101 in 26 overs) had the best figures but opener Thakur did get into him with seven boundaries to his credit out of the 14 that he conceded apart from the maximum.
While Himanshu got a bit pasting from Dhawan, he was more economical going for only 66 runs in 22 overs, picking up two wickets. Another medium pacer Akhil Chaudhary also got two wickets.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 264 vs HP 1st Innings 311/8 (Rishi Dhawan 95 batting, Ravi Thakur 85, Siddhant Sharma 4/101, Himanshu Chauhan 2/66).
At Cuttack: Uttarakhand 342 (Vaibhav Bhatt 115, Jiwanjot Singh 90, Sunil Roul 3/93) vs Odisha 123/6 (Abhay Negi 2/33).
At Puducherry: J&K 106 and 152 (Sagar Udeshi 3/48) vs Puducherry 172 and (target 87) 35/7 (Abid Mushtaq 5/17).
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 1st Innings 454 (Himanshu Mantri 111, Saransh Jain 70, Akash Singh 4/97, Mahesh Pithiya 3/103) vs Baroda 1st Innings 104/6 (Mitesh Patel 67, Anubhav Agarwal 3/41).
Chouhan's six, Kiran’s three keep Chhattisgarh afloat
Ashish Chouhan grabbed an impressive six-wicket haul, while Ravi Kiran returned with three wickets as the pace duo kept Chhattisgarh in the game against heavyweights Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy Group B fixture in Raipur on Saturday.
Chouhan (6/105) and Kiran (3/53)'s splendid show helped Chhattisgarh bundle out Mumbai for 351 after they resumed at 310 for four as the last six wickets fell inside 16 overs this morning.
In response, Chhattisgarh were 180 for 4 as the match hangs in the balance with the home side trailing by 171 runs going into an intriguing penultimate day.
For the home side, Shashank Chandrakar's struck 56 off 93 balls in a 87-run opening alliance with Rishabh Tiwari (25; 87b).
But the Mumbai bowlers continued to chip away at wickets. Sanjeet Desai, after a promising start, fell for 41 (87b), while skipper Amandeep Khare stood firm with an unbeaten 35.
Assam in driver's seat
Parvej Musaraf's resolute 89, Abhishek Thakuri's 112, his maiden first-class century, and Mrinmoy Dutta's brisk 72 off 54 balls lower down the order powered Assam to a formidable 405 against Bihar in Guwahati.
Sakibul Gani was the pick of Bihar's bowlers, claiming 4/91.
Bihar encountered early setbacks with Piyush Singh getting out for a duck, while the other opener Sharman Nigrodh retired hurt without opening the account.
Gani (10) also departed early before Bipin Saurabh's 39 and Paramjeet Singh's unbeaten 26 steadied the ship as Bihar finished the day at 134 for 5, trailing Assam by 271 runs.
Mukhtar Hussain's impressive spell of 3 for 16 kept Bihar in check.
Bengal batters flounder again
In Thumba, veteran allrounder Jalaj Saxena wreaked havoc, taking 7 for 67 with his spin bowling as Bengal were tottering at 172 for 8 in reply to Kerala's 363, trailing by 191 runs.
Returning to action from India A duties, Abhimanyu Easwaran scored a composed 72 off 93 balls (11x4) at the top of the order.
But the 37-year-old Saxena triggered the collapse after dismissing Abhimanyu and thereafter there was hardly any resistance from the Bengal batters.
Bengal's debutant opener Ranjot Khaira got out for 9, while the likes of skipper Manoj Tiwary (6), Abhishek Porel (2), Anustup Majumdar (0) and Shahbaz Ahmed (8) failed to get to double digits.
Bengal batting also floundered against Mumbai in their previous match as they lost by an innings and four runs.
Brief Scores:
At Raipur: Mumbai 351; 101.4 overs (Prithvi Shaw 159, Bhupen Lalwani 102; Ashish Chouhan 6/105). Chhattisgarh 180/4; 66 overs (Shashank Chandrakar 56, Amandeep Khare 35 not out; Shams Mulani 1/35). Chhattisgarh trail by 171 runs.
In Guwahati: Assam 405; 121.4 overs (Parvej Musaraf 89, Abhishek Thakuri 115, Mrinmoy Dutta 72 not out; Sakibul Gani 4/91). Bihar 134/5; 46 overs (Bipin Saurabh 39, Paramjeet Singh 26 not out; Mukhtar Hussain 3/16). Bihar trail by 271 runs.
In Thumba: Kerala 363; 127.3 overs (Sachin Baby 124, Akshay Chandran 106, Jalaj Saxena 40; Shahbaz Ahmed 4/73). Bengal 172/8; 49 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 72, Sudip Kumar Gharami 33; Jalaj Saxena 7/67). Bengal trail by 191 runs.
In Viziangaram: Andhra 261; 95.1 overs (KV Sasikanth 72, Ricky Bhui 94; Yash Dayal 3/60, Ashish Chouhan 3/45) and 19/1; 4.3 overs (Maheep Kumar 14; Saurabh Kumar 1/1). Uttar Pradesh 198; 51.5 overs (Aryan Juyal 60, Akshdeep Nath 26; KV Sasikanth 5/54, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2/46). Andhra lead by 82 runs.
Bowlers hand Karnataka advantage
Karnataka bowlers rose to the occasion to reduce Tamil Nadu to 129 for 7 after Devdutt Padikkal's superb 151 to take the visitors to a commanding position at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Chennai on Saturday.
Southpaw Padikkal, who continued his red-hot form, scored 151 off 218 balls with the help of 12 boundaries and six maximums, his third Ranji Trophy hundred this season, but failed to add on to his overnight score after being dismissed in the second ball of the day.
Resuming at the overnight score of 288 for 5, Hardik Raj (51) completed his maiden first-class fifty, while wicketkeeper Srinivas Sharath made 45 off 83 balls with the last five Karnataka batters adding just 78 runs to be bowled out for 366 in 119.4 overs.
But the Karnataka bowlers equally responded to their batting colleagues, picking up wickets at regular intervals to reduce their southern opponents to 129 for seven in 56 overs.
Off-spinner L Sashi Kumar (3/41) picked up three wickets, while Hardik (2/47) chipped in with two scalps. Vidwath Kaverappa (1/12) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (1/19) also shared the spoils between them.
Narayan Jagadeesan (40 off 56), Baba Indrajith (35 not out) and Vimal Kumar (14) were the only only double digit contributors for Tamil Nadu.
At the close of play, Tamil Nadu still trail Karnataka by 237 runs.
In another Group C tie in Mohali, Gujarat took the vital first innings lead over Punjab.
Resuming at the overnight score of 250 for eight, Gujarat finished at 339 in 94.3 overs but produced a superb bowling display to bundle out the hosts for 219 in 56.5 overs.
Medium pacer Priyajitsing Jadeja starred with the ball with figures of 5 for 60, while Chintan Gaja (3/71) accounted for three wickets.
Punjab skipper Mandeep Singh (76 not out off 110) waged a lone battle, while last man Baltej Singh made 42 off 43 balls.
Brief scores:
In Chennai: Karnataka 366 all out in 119.4 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 151; Ajith Ram 4/75 ) vs Tamil Nadu 129 for 7 in 56 overs (Narayan Jagadeesan; K Shashi Kumar 3/41).
In Chandigarh: Chandigarh 356 all out in 116 overs (Manan Vohra 134, Ankit Kaushik 76; Bikramjit Debnath 3/31) vs Tripura 187 for 4 in 62 overs (Ganesh Satish 67 batting, Bikramjit Debnath 50 batting; Rohit Dhanda 2/32).
In Surat: Railways 297 all out in 90.5 overs (Upendra Yadav 91; Deepraj Gaonkar 3/26) & 31 for no loss in 11 overs vs Goa 200 all out in 68.2 overs (Amogh Sunil Desai 61; Adarsh Singh 4/41).
In Mohali: Gujarat 339 all out (Priyank Panchal 77, Aditya Patel 58, Arzan Nagwaswalla 50 not out; Siddarth Kaul 3/87, Arshdeep Singh 3/101) vs Punjab 219 all out in 56.5 overs (Mandeep Singh 76 not out; Priyajitsing Jadeja 5/60).
