After conceding huge ground in the first two sessions of the second day, Mumbai fought back against holders Rajasthan through their third wicket pair of Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Poor bowling by the hosts allowed Rajasthan build a huge first innings total of 530, after resuming the day on 309 for 4. The visitors then had Mumbai tottering on 22 for 2 before Sharma led the fightback with a belligerent, though chancy, unbeaten 55 off 59 balls that included 11 fours.
At stumps, the 39-time champions were 104 for 2, with Sharma, having batted 80 minutes, in the company of Nayar, who was unconquered on 32 off 57 balls, inclusive of six fours.
Rajasthan had knocked Mumbai out of the contest last year at the quarter-final stage and the latter face another difficult task on Saturday, Day 3, to wipe the 426 runs deficit.
A lot will depend on Sharma, who was let off twice by the visitors, and Nayar, who escaped being run-out when the score was 31.
The duo came together at the fall of opener and captain Wasim Jaffer, who was out to a poor shot. He mistimed pull off a short ball from the tall and well-built Pankaj Singh, who had also accounted for the other opener -- Kaustubh Pawar for a duck -- with a superb out-swinger.
Mumbai could have been 31 for 4 had Sharma not been dropped at short extra cover on 2 by substitute fielder Vaibhav Deshpande off Deepak Chahar.
Later his edge off Pankaj Singh went past a static rival captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar in the slips.
Earlier, Rajasthan piled on the huge total after resuming on Friday morning, building mainly on Robin Bisht's unconquered 82, Jhalani's 39 and Pankaj Singh's 20-ball 34, with two sixes and four boundaries.
The joy of seeing the back of rival captain Kanitkar, who scored 141 in 162 balls, with 17 hits to the fence, before being caught behind after adding 12 runs to his overnight 129 -- just after the first hour's play -- did not last long, as Bisht and Jhalani forged a stand of 59 runs.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan 530 all out in 152.2 overs (V Saxena 53, H Kanitkar 141, R Parida 67, R Bisht not out 82; D Kulkarni 4 for 110, I Abdulla 3 for 91). Mumbai 104 for 2 in 25 overs (A Nayar batting 32, Rohit Sharma batting 55; Pankaj Singh 2 for 40).
Bowlers lead Orissa's fightback against Punjab
Orissa's seamers struck at regular intervals to help the team stage a fightback and reduce Punjab to 255 for 9 on Day 2 of their Group A match in Mohali.
Bundled out for 251 in the first innings, Basant Mohanty and Lagnajit Samal led Orissa's stunning fightback, picking three wickets each.
Punjab's last-man and debutant Brainder Sarn did not bat, forcing skipper Harbhajan Singh to declare the innings in the 79th over.
Orissa are yet to open their account in the second innings after facing just one over.
Earlier, resuming at 246 for 9, Orissa could add just five runs as Sandeep Sharma cleaned up Alok Mangaraj to finish with five for 53.
But Orissa fought back strongly, reducing Punjab to 26 for three by the 11th over at the PCA stadium.
Uday Kaul (62) and Mayank Sidhana (30) steadied the innings with a valuable half-century stand for the fourth wicket before Bikas Pati ran the latter out with the scoreboard reading 94.
Kaul struck eight boundaries during his 185-minute stay at the crease and faced 116 balls.
Coming down the order at the fall of Harbhajan's wicket, Gitansh Khera struck 47 valuable runs and, along with Karan Goel (36), added 45 runs for the seventh wicket.
Khera found the fence six times, stayed for 155 minutes and faced 107 deliveries.
Sandeep, who came in at number 10, contributed 23 off 41 balls to help the hosts go past Orissa's first-innings total.
Brief Scores: Orissa 251 all out in 85.4 overs (Mohanty 60 not out, Sahoo 56, Behera 47; Sharma 5-53, Sran 3-66) and 0 for no loss. Punjab 255 for 9 decl (Kaul 62, Khera 47; Samal 3-36, Mohanty 3-76).
Niraj Patel double ton helps Gujarat post 520
Niraj Patel scored an unbeaten double century to help Gujarat amass 520 runs in their first innings against Delhi and gain the upperhand at the end of the second day's play in their Group B match in Valsad.
Niraj, resuming the day on personal score of 111, notched his career-best score of 228 runs off 359 balls, studded with as many as 32 fours and two huge hits over the fence.
Resuming the day at 358 for six, overnight batsmen Niraj and Salil Yadav (71) played sensibly and shared a vital 174-run stand for the seventh wicket to take the home team past the 500-run mark.
Young left-arm orthodox bowler Vikas Mishra turned out to be the star performer for Delhi with career-best figures of seven for 116 runs.
In reply, Delhi were precariously placed at 118 for three at stumps with opener Unmukt Chand ending the day on unbeaten 72 and giving him company was all-rounder Rajat Bhatia on 21.
For Gujarat, right-arm pacer Faisal Dudhat picked up two wickets giving away 19 runs, while Amit Singh accounted for the other Delhi wicket.
Delhi now trail Gujarat by 402 runs with seven wickets in hand with two more days still remaining in the four-day match.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 520 all out in 142.5 overs (Niraj Patel 228 not out, Parhtiv Patel 100, Salil Yadav 71; Vikas Mishra 7-116). Delhi 118 for 3 in 35 overs (Unmukt Chand 72 not out, Rajat Bhatia 21 not out; Faisal Dudhat 2-19).
Railways stare at innings defeat vs Karnataka
Young left-arm spinner K P Appanna took full advantage of a dodgy Karnail Singh track to claim five wickets as Karnataka pushed Railways towards their second outright defeat in Delhi on Friday.
At stumps on the second day, Railways were 33 for two in their second innings -- still requiring 180 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
In the morning, Abhimanyu Mithun (32, 3x4, 2x6) hit a few lusty blows as Karnataka posted a challenging 347.
On a pitch where the ball kept low and, at times, turned and shot up, Railways decided to play a defensive game and dug their own grave.
Their batsmen pushed and prodded only to get out for a paltry 134 in 53.5 overs.
Appanna, who was introduced in the fifth over, had career-best figures of five for 39 and completed 50 first-class wickets.
Such was the nature of the track, that left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind bowled left-arm spin and dismissed the dogged Sanjay Bangar (31, 130 deliveries).
Appanna got a wicket with his very first delivery, an arm ball that skidded and trapped Shreyas Khanolkar (4) plumb in front.
In his next over, Appanna got one to turn and shoot up and Shivakant Shukla (17) gloved it to Manish Pandey at short leg.
With Abhimanyu Mithun (3-29) accounting for Faiz Fazal, Railways were three down before lunch.
Gauging the nature of the pitch, Vinay told Aravind to bowl left-arm spinners which he did effectively. While Aravind (2-25) got Yere Goud (10) with his seam-up stuff, Bangar edged one of his slow left-arm deliveries to the slip cordon.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 347 in 114.3 overs (Robin Uthappa 117, S Binny 68, R Vinay Kumar 48, M Karthik 5/88). Railways 134 in 53.5 overs (S Bangar 31, KP Appanna 5-39, A Mithun 3-29, S Aravind 2-25) & 33-2 (R Vinay Kumar 1-4, A Mithun 1-5).
Mukund leads strong TN reply
Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund was in his element, cracking an unbeaten 110 to help his team finish the second day on 169 for 1 in reply to Haryana's first innings total of 348 in Chennai.
At stumps, debutant Kaushik Gandhi (12), who came in at the fall of opener Murali Vijay (33), was with Abhinav, whose unbeaten 110 came off 176 balls with one six and 12 fours.
Abhinav, who reached his 50 just before tea, added the next fifty in quick time and was at the crease for 233 minutes.
He was also involved in the opening wicket stand of 84 runs in 30.3 overs with Vijay, who was caught and bowled by Priyank Tehlan.
Haryana wicketkeeper Nitin Saini was also pressed into service and he bowled three overs, conceding seven runs.
Earlier, Haryana were all out 22 minutes before lunch, with captain and India spinner Amit Mishra remaining unbeaten on 71.
Brief Scores: Haryana 348 (Priyank Tehlan 95, Amit Mishra 71 n.o; L Balaji 3-46, S Aushik 3-88, Sunny Gupta 3-68. Tamil Nadu 169-1 (Abhinav Mukund 110 n.o).
Rayudu ton gives Baroda command over MP
Ambati Rayudu (119) struck a sparkling century as Baroda maintained their stranglehold over Madhya Pradesh on the second day of their in Vadodara on Friday.
The home side, which bundled out the visitors for just 63 on Thursday, scored 375 in their first innings courtesy Rayudu, who batted with authority till he fell to Amit Sharma.
Opener Aditya Waghmode had made a valuable contribution of 99 on Day 1.
If not for Madhya Pradesh off-spinner Jalaj Saxena, who ran through the lower order and returned figures of five for 61, Baroda could have scored a much bigger total.
In reply, Madhya Pradesh were 176 for 2, with wicketkeeper Naman Ojha unbeaten on 63, inclusive of nine fours and two sixes.
Mohnish Mishra chipped in with 58 before he fell to Yusuf Pathan.
Madhya Pradesh still trail Baroda by 136 runs with eight second innings wickets in hand.
Resuming at his overnight score of 80 and team total of 207 for four, Rayudu completed his ton as he added 39 more runs in the morning session before being out to Amit Sharma.
The explosive Yusuf Pathan disappointed as he contributed just nine runs while captain and wicketkeeper Pinal Shah chipped in with 54 runs at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 176-2 in 49 overs and 63 all out (Naman Ojha 63 batting, Mohnish Mishra 58. Baroda 375 in 94 overs (Aditya Waghmode 99, Ambati Ryudu 119; Jalaj Saxena 5-61).
Saurashtra post 208-4 vs Uttar Pradesh
Skipper Jaydev Shah struck an unbeaten 79 as Saurashtra amassed 208 for four in reply to Uttar Pradesh's 362 all out on day two of their match in Merrut on Friday.
Saurashtra still trail Uttar Pradesh by 154 runs in their first innings, with Shah and Shitanshu Kotak (32 not out) at the crease.
Both the batsmen shared an unbroken 96-run partnership for the fifth wicket to continue the steady build-up at the Cantonment Board Ground.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh, resuming at 266 for 4, were bowled out for 362, with former India U-19 opener Tanmay Srivastava scoring an unbeaten 175.
The 21-year-old southpaw hit 24 boundaries in his unbeaten 334-ball knock.
For Saurashtra, Sandip Maniar and Kamlesh Makwana picked up four wickets apiece with the latter scalping last three wickets of the hosts.
Makwana had impressive figures of 4-30 in the 14 overs he bowled. Maniar supported him well with four for 91 from his 29 overs.
India's ODI specialist Ravindra Jadeja went for 60 in his 23 wicketless overs.
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 362 in 116 overs. Saurashtra 208-4 in 62 overs (Jaydev Shah 79 not out, Sagar Jogiyani 39, Praveen Kumar 1-40, R P Singh 1-47).
