Manish Pandey struck an unbeaten maiden double century after resuming his cramps-interrupted innings on 101 on Friday morning, and Amit Verma scored 173, to put Karnataka in command against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Mumbai.
Pandey was unconquered on exactly 200, after a stay of 321 minutes, during which he struck 23 fours and a six, after which Karnataka declared their first innings closed at a mammoth 635 for 9, 25 minutes after tea on day two of the four-day match.
In reply, Mumbai were three for one, following the dismissal of captain Wasim Jaffer for a duck in the first over, before recovering to end the day on 37 for one in 12 overs.
Ajinkya Rahane, drafted into the home team after being released from the Indian Test squad to play the match, was unbeaten on 23, while Abhishek Nayar -- who had scored a double century in Mumbai's game against Rajasthan -- was the other not out batsman on 14.
The 39-time champions needed 399 more runs to avoid following-on and are 598 runs short of Karnataka's imposing first innings total on a wicket that is still playing true.
The major part of the day was spent by Mumbai chasing leather after Karnataka resumed their innings at the overnight total of 316 for five, with left-hand batsman Verma (41) and captain Vinay Kumar (21) on strike.
Mumbai captured the wicket of the visiting team skipper in the 29th over of the morning when Ramesh Powar bowled him off a defensive shot for 57 after which Verma and Pandey, who had retired to the dressing room on Thursday before tea after scoring his first hundred runs, took centre stage.
The seventh wicket duo put on 167 runs in 178 balls to boost Karnataka's score close to the 550-run mark.
Verma, who had compiled his century in 210 balls after being let off early in the innings, was finally deceived in flight by a well-tossed up ball by Powar who had him stumped.
He faced 275 balls in his 372-minute knock and hit 18 fours and three sixes. He had put on a century stand with captain Vinay Kumar too for the sixth wicket.
Spinners Iqbal Abdulla (2 for 130), Powar (2 for 150) and Chavan (3 for 115) were expensive but took the majority of wickets for Mumbai.
The visitors, who were level at nine points with Mumbai going into the tie, struck a big blow to the hosts' hopes of matching them in the first innings by sending back Jaffer for no score. The India discard misread the swing from Vinay Kumar, and offered no stroke to a ball that came in and rapped him on pads, and was leg before.
Rahane, who was in the India reserves for the first two Tests against the West Indies, looked confident along with the left-handed Nayar and Mumbai's hopes rest largely on this duo and the in-form Rohit Sharma.
Brief Scores:
Karnataka 635 for 9 decl (R Uthappa 49, G Satish 83, M Pandey 200 not out, A Verma 173, Vinay Kumar 57, A Mithun 45; I Abdulla 2 for 130, R Powar 2 for 150, A Chavan 3 for 115).
Mumbai 37 for 1 (A Rahane batting 23, A Nayar batting 14).
Samantray, Mallick bat Orissa into comfortable position
Biplab Samantray made a career-best 171 while Abhilash Mallick fell one short of his maiden ton as Orissa were bowled out for 482 in their first innings on the second day of the Elite division match against Uttar Pradesh in Sambalpur, Orissa.
In reply, UP were 54 for one at close of play, with Tanmay Srivastava (35) and Mohammad Kaif (14) unbeaten.
Wicketkeeper Amir Khan was the lone UP batsman dismissed, caught behind by Subhrajit Sahoo off Alok Mangaraj (1-28).
Earlier, resuming at 293 for three, Samantray and Mallick started from where they left on Thursday and looked at ease against the UP bowlers before their 212-run fourth-wicket stand came to a halt.
Both Samantray and Mallick added identical 61 runs to their personal scores today before they were dismissed by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, that too in similar fashion, on LBW decisions.
Samantray and Mallick were the first two victims of Chawla, who returned with figures of five for 105.
Apart from Chawla, pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (2-77) and left-arm orthodox bowler Praveen Kumar (2-85) scalped two wickets apiece for the tourists.
At stumps, UP trail Orissa by 428 runs in the first innings with nine wickets still in hand.
Brief Scores:
Orissa 482 all out in 160.3 overs (Biplab Samantray 171, Abhilash Mallick 99; Piyush Chawla 5-105).
UP: 54 for one in 21 overs (Tanmay Srivastava batting 35, Mohammad Kaif batting 14; Alok Mangaraj 1-28).
Mukund's gutsy fifty gives Tamil Nadu lead
Tamil Nadu rode on a gutsy half-century from India's reserve opener Abhinav Mukund to take a vital 69-run first-innings lead against Delhi on the second day of their third round Elite Group match at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi.
Mukund returned to the dressing room unbeaten on 89, while Jagannath Kaushik was on eight, as Tamil Nadu finished the day on 281 for 8, on a treacherous Kotla wicket.
Earlier in the day, when the visitors were 69 for 3, a ball from left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan nastily shot up from a good length spot and broke the wiser of Mukund's helmet. The batsman was in unbearable pain and play was stopped for about five to seven minutes before the opener walked out of the field with a bruised jaw.
Mukund, however, returned to crease at the fall of the sixth wicket and manfully shouldered the burden of Tamil Nadu's innings, reaching his individual 50 and also taking the visitors past Delhi's total of 212 runs.
Mukund faced 157 balls during his 253-minute stay at the wicket while hitting 15 boundaries.
Ramaswamy Prasanna, who scored 59 off 107 balls with 10 fours, and Yo Mahesh (47 off 138; 8x4), were the other notable contributors for Tamil Nadu.
Out-of-favour India pacer Ashish Nehra, who was drafted into the Delhi team after the innings defeat to Gujarat, bowled a good first spell as he almost got Murali Vijay out with an in-swinging delivery, but umpire Amish Sahiba ruled in favour of the batsman.
Vijay though didn't last long as a shooter from Nehra had him trapped in front of the wicket.
The veteran bowler was on hat-trick as he got rid of Arun Kartik with the very next ball, leaving Tamil Nadu struggling at 35 for two.
Nehra ended the day with figures of two for 70 in 18 overs.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 212 (U Chand 86, Y Nagar 51; L Balaji 3-42, R Srinivas 3-48)
Tamil Nadu 281-8 (A Mukund batting 89, R Prasanna 58; A Nehra 2-70)
Vahora's five-wicket haul leads Baroda fightback
Pacer Murtuja Vahora scalped four wickets to complete a five-wicket haul as Baroda fought back on the second day of their Elite Division match against Haryana in Vadodara.
Vahora (5-78) and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh (3-42) put the brakes on Haryana, who resumed the day on 281 for three, and grabbed the remaining seven wickets for 109 runs to bundle out the visitors for 390.
Haryana's first innings could have ended much earlier but for opener Rahul Dewan, who scored a patient 164 from 348 balls, studded with 23 fours, and Yuzvendra Chahal's 38 down the order.
Dewan, who resumed the day on 131, and Chahal shared 43 runs for the eighth wicket before the former got out.
In reply, Baroda were 104 for one, trailing by 286 runs with nine first innings wickets in hand.
Aditya Waghmode and Rakesh Solanki were batting on 51 and 44, respectively when the stumps were drawn at Moti Bagh Stadium.
The duo scored 95 runs together for the unfinished second wicket stand after Baroda lost opening batsman Kedar Devdhar for a duck with the team total on nine in 3.2 overs.
Going into this Group B match, Baroda had secured seven points from one win and a draw, while Haryana had two points from two draws.
Brief Scores:
Haryana 390 all out in 129.4 overs (R Dewan 164, N Saini 112; Murtuja Vahora (5-78), Swapnil Singh (3-42).
Baroda 104 for one in 42.5 overs (Aditya Waghmode 51 batting, Rakesh Solanki 44 batting).
Punjab struggle after Saurashtra post 542
After Sagar Jogiyani and Sitanshu Kotak scored superb centuries to help Saurashtra post 542 runs, Jaydev Unadkat claimed three wickets to reduce Punjab to 59 for 3 on the second day of their Elite Division match at Mohali.
At draw of stumps, Punjab were struggling, with Sandeep Sharma batting on 4.
Saurashtra, resuming at the overnight total of 280 for four, went on to cross the 500-run mark, riding on centuries from Jogiyani and Kotak, besides a valuable half-century by Jayesh Odedra at the end.
Overnight batsmen -- Jogiyani, unbeaten on 126 and Kotak on 25 -- went on to complete their tons, the latter remaining unbeaten on 166.
The pair put up a total of 116-run stand for the fifth wicket before Jogiyani was trapped leg before wicket by Amitoze Singh for 164 from 318 balls, including 19 fours.
Jogiyani's dismissal triggered a small collapse as the hosts added another wicket to their kitty in the very next over when Manpreet Gony saw off Pratik Mehta (1).
Punjab then dismissed Sandip Maniar (3) and Jaydev Unadkat (1) in the a span of five overs to suddenly leave Saurashtra reeling at 371 for 8.
However, a valiant knock from Kotak, in the able company of Odedra helped Saurashtra post a massive total.
The pair raised 171 runs together for the ninth wicket before Odedra was caught off the bowling of Gony for 53 off 121 balls, studded with eight fours.
Kotak remained not out on 166 off 295 balls, with 21 fours.
Unadkat then wreaked havoc on Punjab's batsmen as he saw off openers Manan Vohra (14), Sarul Kanwar (36) and Karan Goel (3), leaving them gasping for breath.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 542 (Sagar Jogiyani 164, Sitanshu Kotak 166 not out; Manpreet Gony 6/143).
Punjab 59 for 3 (Sarul Kanwar 36; Jaydev Unadkat 3-32).
Tiwary hits double ton as Bengal score big
Skipper Manoj Tiwary slammed a career-best 267 as he made up for the lower-order batsmen's failure to put Bengal in a firm position against Madhya Pradesh in their Elite division match in Kolkata.
Resuming on 318 for three, Bengal were bundled out for 496, with Tiwary's sublime double century, his fourth in 51 first-class matches, being the highlight.
After Sourav Ganguly's dismissal, out for 47 in the first session, adding 10 to his overnight score, Tiwary got little support from the lower order.
The last six batsmen added just 31 runs to the total, showing little application on a flat batting strip at the Jadavpur University ground at Salt Lake.
But the visitors replied strongly with 136 for one, needing 361 more to get the first-innings lead and three points.
Wicketkeeper batsman Naman Ojha was at the crease with a fluent 60 from 117 balls (7x4, 1x6) and giving him company was Mohnish Mishra on 20 (27b, 3x4, 1x6).
It was not a great start on day two for Bengal as former India skipper Ganguly was bowled by T P Sudhindra.
Wickets kept falling at the other end, as Tiwary battled lonely. He hit left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma for two sixes and another against off-spinner Jalaj Saxena.
Medium pacer Ishwar Pandey claimed four for 115 for Madhya Pradesh.
