Karthik and Badrinath make UP toil

Tamil Nadu 356 for 4 (Dinesh Karthik 159*, Badrinath 123, B Kumar 2-69) lead Uttar Pradesh 150 (Balaji 4-38, Amarnath 4-53) by 206 runs
Scorecard

Dinesh Karthik and S Badrinath added 313 for the third wicket, more than twice of what the entire Uttar Pradesh team managed in its first innings, to put Tamil Nadu in a commanding position at stumps on the second day in Ghaziabad. Tamil Nadu lead by 206 with six wickets still in hand, and will look to bat the opposition out of the game to secure an innings victory.

Karthik and Badrinath came together with the score on 41 for 2 and crushed any hopes the home team would have entertained about making further inroads. Badrinath hit 13 fours and a six in his innings of 123, his 16th first-class century. He was eventually stumped off Praveen Gupta, who bowls left-arm spin, with the score on 254, and the foundation for a much more substantial lead firmly laid.

Karthik, however, was the star of the day, remaining unbeaten on a career-best 159, and adding a further 94 with S Vidyut, who made 44. His knock, his fifth century, was laced with 19 boundaries. He is just four shy of 3000 first-class runs and will be the key for Tamil Nadu tomorrow, as the way he consolidates his innings could well determine the eventual lead Uttar Pradesh will have to scale down.

The only moment of consolation for Uttar Pradesh, after Badrinath's dismissal, was the wicket of Vidyut towards the end of the day, caught by Ravikant Shukla off Sudeep Tyagi. Suresh Kumar, who came in to bat at No.5, was not out on 5, as Tamil Nadu ended the day on 356 for 4

Delhi 176 for 4 (Manhas 72*, Bhatia 45*, Agarkar 2-46) trail Mumbai 330 (Rahane 160, Muzumdar 83, Narwal 4-43, Awana 3-77) by 154 runs
Scorecard

Delhi struck back after a one-sided first day, bowling out Mumbai for 330, with Sumit Narwal and Parvinder Awana taking seven wickets between them, and then recovering from a precarious 79 for 4 to 176 at stumps without any further damage, thanks to an unbeaten 93-run fifth-wicket partnership between Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia.

Mumbai squandered their first-day advantage, losing eight wickets for 35 runs in under 20 overs. The 223-run partnership between overnight batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane and Amol Muzumdar, ended when Pradeep Sangwan, the left-arm pace bowler, trapped Muzumdar lbw for 83. Rahane fell in the next over, caught behind off Narwal for 160, as the two well-set batsmen departed, leaving an unexposed lower middle-order to combat the momentum Delhi secured early into the second day. Their resistance proved weak, as each of the last five Mumbai batsmen to fall failed to reach double figures.

Delhi began poorly, losing Shikhar Dhawan, bowled by Agarkar, for 1. The top order struggled to build partnerships, with the next three wickets yielding 20 or more runs each, but failing to consolidate. Aakash Chopra was caught behind off Nilesh Kulkarni for 16, and Usman Malvi, the fast bowler, trapped Mayank Tehlan lbw for 21. Agarkar then took his second wicket , bowling Aditya Jain for 8, as Delhi seemed to lose the initiative after their remarkable comeback earlier in the day.

Manhas and Bhatia, however, steadied the ship, hitting 20 boundaries between them. They will need to stick around for much longer tomorrow to help their team gain a first innings lead and tilt the balance in Delhi's favour.

Hyderabad 33 for 1 (Rushi Raj 10*, Makda 1-10) trail Gujarat 520 for 9 decl (Modi 250*, Niraj Patel 76, Shoaib 3-72, Suman 3-63) by 487 runs
Scorecard

Riding on a massive, unbeaten 250 by Nilesh Modi, Gujarat posted an imposing 520 for 9 on the second day in Ahmedabad, and managed to dismiss Ravi Teja, the Hyderabad batsman, to strengthen their dominance in the match.

Niraj Patel and Modi, who had put on 127 for the second wicket on the first day, added a further 35, before Patel was bowled by Shoaib Ahmed for 76. Although none of the other batsmen managed to get a sizable score, they chipped in with important cameos, providing enough support to Modi, to take Gujarat past 500. Parthiv Patel made 33, adding 58 for the fourth wicket, and Monish Parmar made a quick 34 off 25 balls, to put on 55 for the eighth wicket, as Hyderabad struggled to make frequent inroads, allowing the Gujarat batsmen to build important partnerships, enough to take their team to an imposing total. Shoaib and T Suman had three wickets each to show for their efforts.

Gujarat eventually declared and bagged an early wicket, courtesy Ashraf Makda, to leave Hyderabad at 33 for 1 at stumps.

Rajasthan 172 for 2 (Khoda 87*, Bist 32*, Dhiraj Singh 2-38) trail Orissa 281 (Pati 72, SS Das 74, H Das 59*, Yadav 4-45, Mathur 3-63) by 109 runs
Scorecard

Rajasthan, who just about had the edge on the first day, were well and truly on top at the end of the second, as Vivek Yadav, the legspinner, playing in only his second first-class match, took 4 for 45 to help bowl out Orissa for 281. In response, Gagan Khoda anchored the Rajasthan innings, scoring a patient, unbeaten 87, as his team progressed slowly to 172 for 2 at stumps.

Halhadar Das was not out on 59 but was able to add just 16 runs to his overnight score of 43, as he ran out of partners. Debasis Mohanty fell on the fourth ball of the day, caught off Sumit Mathur. Gajendra Singh then dismissed Preetamjit Das for 14, and Yadav took the last two wickets to fall, as Orissa failed to build on an impressive start provided to them by their openers, Bikas Pati and Shiv Sunder Das, who put on 125, on the first day.

Rajasthan got off to a good start, with their openers adding 81 before Dhiraj Singh trapped Saxena for 36. He struck again to remove No.3 batsman Rajesh Bishnoi for 5, but Khoda was ably supported by Robin Bist, who remained unbeaten on 32, to build the foundation for a sizable first innings score for Rajasthan.

Baroda 265 for 1 (Bilakhia 124*, Williams 107*) lead Railways 224 (Sharma 79, Rawat 67, Pathan 4-42, Veragi 3-51) by 41 runs
Scorecard

Twin tons from Conor Williams, the Baroda captain, and Azharuddin Bilakhia put Baroda firmly in command at stumps on the second day. Both batsmen made a mockery of the Railways score of 224, adding an unbeaten 218 for the second wicket as Baroda lost just one wicket, that of Satyajit Parab, who made 28, and secured a lead of 41 in their still ongoing first innings.

Parab was lbw to Sanjib Sanyal, the medium-pacer, with the score on 47. But Williams, who scored his 16th first-class ton, and Bilakhia, whose unbeaten 127 is now his career-best, consolidated the Baroda innings steadily, hitting 25 boundaries and two sixes in their mammoth partnership, to provide their team with a platform for a substantial lead and a potential innings win.

Saurashtra 81 for 1 (Chauhan 41*) trail Punjab 482 (Inder Singh 114, Sohal 103, Kohli 79, Kakkar 67, Jadeja 5-106, Makvana 3-115) by 401 runs
Scorecard

Crucial middle-order contributions by Taruwar Kohli and Ankur Kakkar, who added 119 for the sixth wicket, took Punjab to a formidable total of 481, a score they will settle for after ending the first day at 291 for 5. The Saurashtra response, led by opener Bhushan Chauhan, was solid, as they were 81 for 1 at stumps.

Kohli, in his debut match, played a sedate knock, and was well supported by the more experienced Kakkar, with both scoring at over three an over, pretty high by this season's standards, to take the Punjab's score past 400. However, given their partnership, Punjab will be disappointed to not have scored in excess of 500, as they lost their last five wickets for 72 runs. Kakkar was the first to fall in the day, lbw to Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner, for 64. Kohli made 79 before being caught behind off Kamlesh Makvana as Saurashtra took a couple of quick wickets. But Manpreet Gony chipped in with a quick 33 to help Baroda get to their eventual score. Jadeja took two wickets in the day, to increase his tally to five, and shared eight wickets in all with Makvana.

Kanaiya Vaghela put on 44 for the first wicket with Chauhan, but was trapped lbw by Gagandeep Singh, the fast bowler for Punjab. But Shitanshu Kotak, the No. 3 batsman, and Chauhan ensured there were no further hiccups and will be keen to consolidate their stand and help provide their team with a handy first innings lead.

Andhra 161 for 7 (Manoj Sai 70, Joshi 4-23) trail Karnataka 366 (Uthappa 133, Joshi 65, Kalyankrishna 4-85) by 205 runs
Scorecard

While a raucous crowd had watched the two teams share the spoils on the first day, a far quieter one witnessed hosts Karnataka dominate on day two. Sunil Joshi's all-round show had Andhra in so much trouble that despite a counterattacking 104-run seventh-wicket stand between Manoj Sai and M Suresh, the visitors faced the prospect of a follow-on. (Read the full report.)