Jaffer and Rohit help Mumbai dominate

Mumbai 405 for 6 (Jaffer 108, Rohit 98) lead Himachal Pradesh 250 by 155 runs
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Wasim Jaffer scored his third century of the competition, and added 113 for the fourth wicket with Rohit Sharma to put Mumbai in a dominant position against Himachal Pradesh on the second day in Ahmedabad. Vishal Bhatia, the left-arm spinner, took three wickets, but was unable to prevent the Mumbai batsmen from scoring over four an over, and building significant partnerships.

The Mumbai openers, Jaffer and Vinayak Samant, put on a half-century stand before Jitender Mehta, the medium-pacer, had Samant caught for 20. Ajinkya Rahane, the tournament's top-scorer, started from where he left off against Punjab, scoring a run-a-ball 35. Rahane and Amol Muzumdar fell within 27 runs of each other, but Jaffer, joined by Rohit, crushed any hopes HP entertained about running through the Mumbai batting line-up. Jaffer's innings was laced with 14 boundaries, and his stand with Rohit, who hit eight fours and three sixes, took Mumbai past HP's total

Jaffer fell for 108, caught by Ashok Thakur off Bhatia, but Rohit continued to build the lead, and was ably supported by Abhishek Nayar, with whom he added 80. Both, however, departed in quick succession, but Ajit Agarkar and Sairaj Bahutule, who have proved capable batsmen, put on an unbeaten 56 for the seventh wicket amid some sloppy bowling by HP, who conceded 37 extras.

Though he got to three figures, Jaffer was slightly disappointed by his dismisssal. "It was a bad shot. I would have scored much more than what I have got today. The wicket has become batsmen friendly," he told DNA.

Uttar Pradesh 305 (Raina 93, Parvinder Singh 64) and 76 for 1 (Srivastava 42*) lead Gujarat 117 (Timil Patel 42*, Praveen Kumar 5-29) by 264 runs
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Gujarat squandered their first-day advantage, being bowled out for 117 after restricting Uttar Pradesh to 305. Praveen Kumar took five wickets, and was well supported by fellow medium-pacers Imtiyaz Ahmed and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who shared the remaining wickets between them, to help UP gain a massive 188-run lead. Their batsmen Tanmay Srivastava and Suresh Raina, who were involved in an unbeaten 61-run second-wicket partnership, then stretched that lead to 264 to leave Gujarat staring at a daunting fourth-innings target.

Gujarat started the day well, removing Amir Khan early, but shepherded by Parvinder Singh, the UP tail showed some spunk to take their score past 300. Ashraf Makda, the left-arm medium pacer, was Gujarat's most effective performer, taking 3 for 40.

In reply, the Gujarat batsmen capitulated to pace, losing their openers to Praveen for 10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the next two wickets, including captain Parthiv Patel for 2, before Praveen trapped Bhavik Thaker for a first-ball duck. Imtiyaz removed Mohnish Parmar two runs later to leave Gujarat tottering at 48 for 7, but Timil Patel, who top-scored with an unbeaten 43, and Makda added 34 for the eighth wicket to help take their team towards three figures.

Saurashtra 183 for 9 (RA Jadeja 38) trail Karnataka 305 (Uthappa 139, Vinay 48, RA Jadeja 5-82) by 122 runs
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Karnataka, buoyed by probing spells of swing bowling, wrested control of their quarter-final from Saurashtra on the second day in Mumbai. Despite possessing a line-up that has scored heavily in the league phase, Saurashtra stuttered in reply to Karnataka's 305, and ended the day 122 runs adrift with one wicket left. Read the full report here

Tamil Nadu 188 for 5 (Mukund 47, Karthik 46) trail Bengal 345 (Tiwary 144, Chakrabarty 57, Saha 53, Ganapathy 5-59) by 157 runs
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On an enthralling day, Bengal seized the advantage as Tamil Nadu slipped to 188 for 5, still trailing by 157 runs with the last recognised pair of Suresh Kumar and R Ashwin at the crease. One early wicket tomorrow can open up the semi-final spot for Bengal, and Tamil Nadu will hope against hope that Suresh and Ashwin can stretch their stand of 41 to something really substantial. The pitch still holds no demons but the pressure-cooker situation can prove too much to handle for the batsmen. Read the full report here.