Young Ganesh Satish and veteran Wasim Jaffer crafted well-paced half-centuries to lead Vidarbha's strong reply to Karnataka's first innings total of 350 on the second day of their four-day Group A Ranji Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy stadium, in Bengaluru, on Friday.
Jaffer, the former Mumbai captain, scored a superb 68 while Satish was unbeaten on 81 as Vidarbha put up 172 for two in 72 overs.
When the stumps were drawn, Satish and skipper Subramanium Badrinath were at the crease, with Vidarbha still trailing Karnataka by 178 runs, with eight wickets in hand.
Satish showed lot of patience and grit to build a 117-run partnership for the second wicket and brought the team back on track after they lost their first wicket on three in the very first over of Abhimanyu Mithun.
Satish, who migrated to Vidarbha because of difficulty in cementing a place in the defending champions’ side, and Jaffer ground the Karnataka bowlers and did not allow them to dominate by grafting runs in a systematic manner.
The duo was unseparated between lunch and tea, despite some loud appeals as the hosts went wicketless in the second session.
"There were some close calls, but things can go against us. Some things are not in our hands," Shreyas Gopal said.
In the very second over after tea, though, Jaffer trying to change gear ended up giving a catch at mid-on to Karun Nair off left-arm spinner Jagadeesh Suchith.
The flamboyant former India opener cracked ten boundaries in his 120-ball 68 runs.
"I don't think Wasimbhai threw away his wicket; it was just that he might have wanted to change gear to get quick runs," Satish told reporters after the day's play.
After the fall of Jaffer, Vidarbha tightened screws and made it difficult for the visitors to score runs.
Satish and captain Subramanium Badrinath also did not want to lose
further wickets as they dug their heels n to end the day on a positive note.
"After the fall of Wasimbhai's wicket, it was really very difficult for us to score runs because of the close-in fielding. I and Badri decided to stay at the wicket and look for small partnerships to frustrate the home bowlers," said Satish, who could muster 52 runs after tea with Badrinath.
Asked whether the team is planning to go for an outright victory or settle down for first innings points, Satish said, "We will think of it once we get past their total. Right now, we are focusing on batting."
For Karnataka, Mithun and Suchith picked a wicket each while Vinay Kumar, S Aravind and Gopal -- all went wicketless.
Resuming their overnight score of 298-6, Karnataka were bundled out for 350 runs in 102.4 overs, after wicketkeeper batsman Chidambaram Gautam scored 30 and Vinay 22.
Vidarbha pacer Ravi Thakur ended the innings, taking four wickets.
Brief Scores:
Vidarbha: 172-2 (Wasim Jaffer 68, Ganesh Satish batting 81)
Karnataka: 350 (Manish Pandey 104; Ravikumar Thakur 4-50)
Punjab make solid reply after dismissing Gujarat for 467
Mohali: In-form Parthiv Patel (113) scored his second straight century as Gujarat amassed 467 before Punjab made a strong reply, ending Day 2 in the Ranji Trophy Group B match on 131 for one.
Resuming at 290 for three, skipper Patel and Y Venugopal Rao (95) kept the Punjab bowlers at bay, raising a 188-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Rao missed out on his hundred when he was stumped off Jiwanjot Singh.
Once that stand was broken, the Punjab bowlers took wickets in heap as Gujarat lost their last six wickets for just 58 runs.
Patel's 113 came off 190 balls, with 10 shots to the fence, while Rao took 187 balls to score 95, which had 12 boundaries.
Leg-spinner Sarabjit Ladda was the most successful bowler for Punjab with figures of five for 133 while Brainder Sran took two for 96.
Punjab came out to bat and openers Manan Vohra (batting 50) and Jiwanjot (51) provided a great start by raising 83 runs for the first wicket.
Jiwanjot was dismissed by off-spinner Ruzul Bhatt and then Uday Kaul (24 batting) stayed at the crease till stumps with Vohra, ensuring that the hosts did not lose any more wickets.
Openers help UP end Day 2 on 169-2
Ghaziabad: Uttar Pradesh’s openers managed a century-plus stand to help the hosts put up a fighting 169 for two against Railways on Day 2 of the Group B Ranji Trophy match.
Responding to Railways' 375 in the first innings, the Praveen Kumar-led UP were bolstered by a 145-run opening partnership between Tanmay Srivastava (75 not out) and Almas Shaukat (76), but the hosts still trail by 206 runs.
The UP bowlers also made it count, restricting Railways to the current score after the visitors started the day on 316 for five.
Praveen, Ankit Rajput and Piyush Chawla picked up two wickets each after Kuldeep Yadav had struck thrice on Day 1.
Sharing the new ball with Praveen, debutant Israr Azim also chipped in with a wicket.
For Railways, after batsman Ashish Singh's ton on the opening day, Arindam Ghosh scored a fifty while medium-pacer Ranjit Mali struck twice to make it count.
But it remains a long battle for the hosts, who are banking on their middle-order to cross the mountain of runs posted by Railways.
Brief Scores:
Railways: 375 in 101.3 overs (Ashish Singh 101, Faiz Ahmed 74; Kuldeep Yadav 3-64)
Uttar Pradesh: 169-2 in 71 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 75 not out, Almas Shaukat 75; Ranjit Mali 2-61).
Sehwag keeps Haryana in the hunt against Delhi
New Delhi: Haryana bounced back after a low first-innings total as their bowlers bundled out Delhi for 237, conceding a slender lead which was overpowered with visiting skipper Virender Sehwag standing firm at the end of second day’s play.
Overcoming a 42-run lead, Haryana were 68 for two at stumps, with Sehwag (batting 29) and Himanshu Rana (batting 12) battling it out at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
They lead by 26 runs.
Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 22 for no loss, Delhi rode on Unmukt Chand's 68 to just about get ahead of Haryana's first innings score of 195.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir (18) was the first to go in the morning, trapped LBW off Ashish Hooda, while Mohit Ahlawat departed for a duck off the same bowler.
Hooda was helped by pace spearhead Harshal Patel as the opening bowling duo bagged three wickets each.
Delhi's middle-order wobbled, but Nitish Rana struck a gutsy 48 and some lower-order resistance from Pradeep Sangwan (34) and Sarang Rawat (26) saw the hosts get ahead of Haryana.
Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who got the prized wicket of Unmukt, wiped off the tail to return with impressive figures of 4-78.
The Delhi bowlers came all guns blazing in the final session to pack the openers early but Sehwag and Rana made sure that the match stays alive going into the penultimate day.
Chaitanya Bishnoi (3) was the first to go after being trapped LBW off part-time spinner Milind Kumar, who bagged a maiden wicket in his only over of the day, and Rahul Dewan was also trapped LBW off Sangwan for 15.
Ishant Sharma squeezed in six overs, giving away 18 runs but is yet to pick up a wicket.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 195 & 68-2 in 23 overs (Virender Sehwag 29 not out, Himanshu Rana 12 not out; Pradeep Sangwan 1-24, Milind Sharma 1-0)
Delhi: 237 all out in 73.4 overs (Unmukt Chand 68, Nitish Rana 48; Jayant Yadav 4-78, Ashish Hooda 3-33, Harshal Patel 3-61).
Karthik's ton helps TN amass 434 against Mumbai
Mumbai: Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik hit a strokeful 167 to help Tamil Nadu post a mammoth 434 on Day 2 against Ranji giants Mumbai in the Group A league encounter.
Resuming on their overnight score of 249 for six at the Bandra Kurla Complex, the visitors rode on Karthik's 24th first-class century, laced with 19 fours and a six, to overshadow Mumbai left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar's five-wicket haul.
The Aditya Tare-led Mumbai were 45 for two at the end of the day's play and trail by 389 runs.
Tamil Nadu medium pacers Mohammed and Jagatheesan Kousik picked a wicket each to put the hosts on the backfoot early on.
For the Baba Indrajith-led side, opener Baba Aparajith (62) and Malolan Rangarajan (61) were the other major contributors even as Karthik's innings stood apart.
It was Karthik's seventh wicket 182-run stand with Rangarahan that did the trick for the visitors as the Mumbai bowlers were made to toil hard.
Dabholkar, who had pocketed four wickets on Day 1, took one more today to record his second first-class fiver. He was ably helped by Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur, who bagged two wickets each.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu: 434 in 144.4 overs (Baba Aparajith 62, Dinesh Karthik 167, M Rangarajan 61; Vishal Dabholkar 5-122).
Mumbai: 45-2 in 29 overs (Shrideep Mangela 20 not out, Dhawal Kulkarni 1 not out; Mohammed 1-13, Jagatheesan Kousik 1-4).
Rain frustrates Bengal again
Kolkata: Bengal's hopes of earning six points from their outing against Rajasthan were virtually dashed as rain interrupted proceedings for the second successive day, with only 16.2 overs of play possible in their Group A Ranji Trophy match at the Eden Gardens.
The visitors were 140 for 5 from 59.4 overs at the end of Day 2, leaving the home team frustrated. They will now look for three points by virtue of a first-innings lead.
Pragyan Ojha (3-30) and Ashok Dinda (1-28), who provided the first breakthrough, took one wicket each on a day when only 65 minutes of action was possible and the visitors added 38 runs to their overnight total.
With rain playing hide and seek throughout the day, play was possible in only two sessions of 15 and 50 minutes before proceedings were called off by Rajesh Deshpande, Navdeep Singh and Match Referee S Sharath.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan: 140-5; 59.4 overs (Vineet Saxena 44 batting, Ashok Menaria 40; Pragyan Ojha 3-30) vs Rajasthan.
Tripura face big defeat against Goa
Porvorim: Darshan Misal scored a fine fifty as Goa took a 196-run first innings lead and then reduced Tripura to 140 for six in their second innings on Day 2 of their Group C Ranji Trophy match.
Tripura are now staring at a defeat as they still trail Goa by 56 runs with just four wickets left.
Resuming at 161 for five, overnight batsman Misal, who started the day on 28, went on to score 62 off 150 balls, including eight fours and a six.
He also shared an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket with Rahul Keni (41) which propelled the hosts to 257 in 90.1 overs.
In reply, Tripura kept losing wickets at regular interval.
MB Murasingh was unbeaten on 36 and Rana Dutta on 44.
Brief Scores:
Tripura: 61 & 140 for six in 55 overs (Arindam Das 41, M B Murasingh batting 36; Shadab Jakati 2-26).
Goa: 257 (Darshan Misal 62, Rahul Keni 41).
Assam dismiss Odisha for 88
Cuttack: Pacer Krishna Das returned a seven-wicket haul as Assam bundled out Odisha for 88 and then posted 137 for eight in their second innings on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy encounter at the Barabati Stadium.
Resuming at the overnight score of 52 for 5, Odisha could add only 36 runs on Friday to their first innings total, with A R Sarangi (27) emerging as the top-scorer.
Krishna took three wickets, dismissing overnight batsman Sarangi, S B Pradhan (2) and B Mohanty (7), while A K Das scalped the wickets of A Mallick (4) and AK Sahoo (6) to secure a crucial four-run first innings lead.
In their second essay, Assam found themselves tottering at 13 for three in five overs as K N Saikia, skipper G Sharma and Amit Verma were dismissed for naught.
Later, J Syed Mohammad's unbeaten 42 and contributions from Tarjinder Singh (27) helped Assam to end the day on a positive note.
For Odisha, Mohanty (3-29) and S B Pradhan (3-27) snapped three wickets each, while Sahoo took one.
At draw of stumps, A K Das (4) was giving company to Mohammad, as Assam lead by 141 runs with two wickets remaining.
Brief Scores:
Assam: 92 & 137-8 in 74.0 overs (J Syed Mohammad 42 not out; SB Pradhan 3-27).
Odisha: 88 all out in 41 overs (A R Sarangi 27; K Das 7-21).