Herwadkar rearguard gives Mumbai lead

Akhil Herwadkar's second first-class ton rescued Mumbai from a shaky position and helped them secure the first-innings lead against Railways at the Wankhede Stadium.

Resuming on 4 for 2, Mumbai recovered well in the morning, and appeared comfortably placed to surpass Railways' first innings total of 217, as Herwadkar and Shreyas Iyer (57 off 62 balls) added 127 runs in 27.5 overs.

However, legspinner Karn Sharma had Iyer caught behind in the 32nd over and that triggered a collapse. From 131 for 2, the hosts slipped to 147 for 6 in the space of four overs, Karn picking up three of the four wickets to fall.

Herwadkar and No.8 batsman Nikhil Patil then put on 124 runs to take Mumbai past Railways' total. Despite Herwadkar's dismissal, Patil helped enhance his team's lead and remained unbeaten at stumps. Karn had six wickets to show for his efforts.

Tamil Nadu 174 for 6 (Shankar 92, Indrajith 44, Praveen Kumar 3-42) trail Uttar Pradesh 348 (Shaukat 88, Umang 73, Raina 61) by 174 runs
Scorecard

Tamil Nadu lost ground in their pursuit for first-innings points against Uttar Pradesh in Kanpur, falling to 174 for 6 by the end of day two. UP, who were 277 for 4 when the day began, were buoyed by handy knocks from the captain Suresh Raina (61), and Saurabh Kumar (41) and ended with 348. Ashwin Crist and Malolan Rangarajan picked up three wickets apiece for Tamil Nadu. The visitors began their reply poorly, falling to 6 for 3 after Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed B Aparajith, Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik inside four overs. Vijay Shankar, though, led a recovery, putting up important stands with B Indrajith and R Prasanna. However, Tamil Nadu suffered another big blow towards the end of the day, when Shankar was dismissed for 92.

Punjab 112 for 3 (Uday 47*, Yuvraj 43*, Irfan 2-33) trail Baroda 475 (Devdhar 186, Waghmode 96, Pandya 59, Pinal 55, Bansal 3-57) by 363 runs
Scorecard

Baroda's lower order stuttered but their tail fought back against Punjab to put on a formidable total of 475 on the second day in Vadodara. Punjab were also reduced to 19 for 3 by Irfan Pathan before Uday Kaul (47*) and Yuvraj Singh (43*) steered them to 112 for 3 at stumps, still trailing by 363 runs.

Baroda's strong position of 344 for 3 was squandered when they lost Swapnil Singh, Hardik Pandya (59), Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan in 7.3 overs for 24 runs, to be 387 for 7. However, Irfan chipped in with 18 runs and Pinal Shah counterattacked with an unbeaten 55 off 67, with eight fours and a six, to lead them past 400. Irfan was bowled by Deepak Bansal, who finished with 3 for 57, and Baroda were bowled out in 130.5 overs.

Punjab were rocked early on as Munaf Patel struck in his first over and Irfan soon removed Jiwanjot Singh (7) and Mandeep Singh (0) in consecutive overs, leaving them three down in the seventh over. Uday and Yuvraj then combined for an unbroken stand of 93 runs to avoid further stutters.

Madhya Pradesh 187 for 7 (Ojha 56, RP Singh 2-51) trail Gujarat 311 (Juneja 61, Axar 55, Jalaj 3-56) by 124 runs
Scorecard

Gujarat closed in on securing an innings lead in Surat after reducing Madhya Pradesh to 187 for 7. Starting the day at 252 for 6, Gujarat rode on a handy half-century from Axar Patel (55) as well as a 38 from Rush Kalaria. Jalaj Saxena picked up three scalps, while Puneet Datey and Ankit Kushwah chipped in with two each, but Gujarat still managed a healthy first-innings total of 311. Madhya Pradesh, in reply, lost wickets at regular intervals right from the off. A lot of batsmen made starts, but only Naman Ojha could muster a fifty, as the visitors were left with a massive task in hand to get back into the match.