Mukund triple-ton puts Tamil Nadu in command

Maharashtra 154 for 1 (Shrikhande 64*, Bhosale 42*) trail Tamil Nadu 648 for 3 dec for 0 (Mukund 300*, Vijay 243) by 494 runs
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Starting the day needing 88 to break the Ranji Trophy record for the highest opening stand, M Vijay and Abhinav Mukund were three runs away from clinching the mark when Vijay was caught for 243 off Harshad Khadiwale. Dinesh Karthik, their captain, scored 5 but S Vidyut gave the innings a push with his 43-ball 59. Along with Mukund, he added 95 in 11.3 overs.

Mukund took charge of the scoring once Vidyut was out, and Tamil Nadu declared once he reached 300 - he's the third TN batsman after WV Raman and A Kripal Singh to score a triple-hundred. They scored 648 for 3, their fourth-highest total. In 42.3 overs on the second day, TN stepped up the pace, scoring 271 runs. Their bowlers, however, failed to make inroads after Khadiwale was dismissed for 41 in the 14th over. Maharashtra, on 47 when he fell, didn't lose another wicket till stumps, with debutant Rohan Bhosale and Ameya Shrikhande putting on an unbroken 107-run stand.

Railways 110 for 4 (Bangar 53*) trail Karnataka 365 (Uthappa 131, Pandey 64, Pawan 54, Kartik 5-83) by 255 runs
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Two late wickets helped hosts Karnataka gain the upper hand over Railways at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Resuming on 264 for 6, Karnataka were dismissed for 365; Murali Kartik completed a handy five-for, a day before the selectors choose the ODI squad to face England.

Manish Pandey's 64 boosted Karnataka's total. He put on 66 for the eighth wicket with Sunil Raju, who took 131 balls for his 25. Railways began their reply in a slow, but confident, manner, with Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar putting on 60. Pagnis was first to fall, trapped lbw by C Raghu in the 28th over. In his next over, Raghu dismissed Karan Sharma for a duck. Sanjay Bangar, the captain, and Harshad Rawle added 49 for the third wicket, before Raju dismissed Rawle for 21. Sunil Joshi soon got rid of new man Sanjib Sanyal, and the umpires called for stumps. Railways will now rely on Bangar to reduce the deficit; all four of their dismissals today were lbws.

Saurashtra 8 for 4 (Trivedi 4-7) trail Gujarat 581 for 6 dec (Thaker 192, Timil 104*) by 573 runs
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With just two days into the season, Gujarat, a team promoted from the Plate League, have showed they are no pushovers. In a devastating five-over spell, Siddharth Trivedi took 4 for 7 to leave last year's semi-finalists Saurashtra in shambles after his team amassed a commanding 581 for 6 declared in Rajkot.

Resuming on 304 for 4, Gujarat lost Sunny Patel, on 90, in the first over of the day, but a 200-run stand between Timil Patel and overnight batsmen Bhavin Thaker put the visitors in command. Thaker converted his 73 to 192, and Timil Patel scored his maiden first-class century. Mohnish Parmar made a 23-ball 39 as Gujarat sought quick runs before their declaration.

Orissa 150 for 3 (SS Das 75*, Shinde 2-16) trail Hyderabad 296 (Kumar 99*, Preetamjit 3-59, DS Mohanty 3-63, B Mohanty 3-81) by 146 runs
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Wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar became the first Hyderabad batsman to score 99 not out in the Ranji Trophy, but his team's total of 296 looked inadequate as Orissa finished the day 145 behind and with seven wickets in hand. Captain Shiv Sunder Das was the mainstay in his Orissa's innings, and added 86 for the first wicket with Bikas Pati. Off-break bowler Amol Shinde removed Pati and got his second leg-before against Payas Ranjan Sinha. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took the other wicket, but hosts Orissa will be confident of taking the lead on Wednesday.

Kumar was unlucky he didn't get much support from the lower order. Resuming on 48, he scored 51 of Hyderabad's 68 runs on the second day. Basanth Mohanty took two in two to reduce the visitors to 230 for 7, but Ojha's 47-ball 10 ensured they added 53 for the eighth wicket. Last man Ashwin Yadav was run out as Kumar missed his maiden first-class century by one run.

Uttar Pradesh 76 for 2 trail Andhra 349 (Pradeep 102*, Reddy 94, B Kumar 5-58) by 273 runs
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LNP Reddy missed a century by six runs, adding five to his overnight 89, but AG Pradeep pushed on from an unbeaten 35 to score his first first-class century. Resuming on 222 for 4, Praveen Kumar struck in quick succession to leave Andhra at 238 for 6. However, a 107-run stand between M Suresh (46) and Pradeep made sure they weren't bowled out cheaply. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then took three wickets in the space of four runs, and it became a hat-trick of ducks for the final three batsmen when No. 11 DP Vijaykumar was run out.

Uttar Pradesh lost two wickets in reply, including that of Suresh Raina. Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif were unbeaten in the 20s at stumps.

Delhi 142 for 0 (Chopra 67*, Dhawan 64*) trail Punjab 391 (U Kaul 95, Kakkar 56, Sangwan 4-102) by 249 runs
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Two of Delhi's openers - Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - are doing duty for India, but Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan showed the depth the team has in that department, adding an unbroken 142 in reply to Punjab's 391. The hosts scored at more than four an over: Dhawan's 64 came off 87 deliveries.

Punjab's overnight pair of Uday Kaul and Ankur Kakkar pushed on from 237 for 5 to 278, before Kakkar was out for 56, caught behind off Amit Bhandari. Gagandeep Singh fell cheaply to Ashish Nehra, but Uday put on useful partnerships of 40 and 32 with Manpreet Gony and his brother Siddarth. He was out to Bhandari five short of the hundred, but Siddarth boosted them close to the 400-mark with a tenth-wicket stand of 30 with Sarabjit Ladda, who made 3.

Mumbai 307 and 30 for 2 (Mathur 2-10) lead Rajasthan 204 (Saxena 76, Kulkarni 5-40, Powar 5-44) by 133 runs Scorecard

Five-wicket hauls from Ramesh Powar and debutant Dhawal Kulkarni helped Mumbai gain a sizeable first-innings lead at the Brabourne Stadium, placing their team in a position from where they can now aim for an outright victory. Although Rajasthan did well to earn two wickets in Mumbai's second innings late in the day, the hosts finished 133 runs ahead at stumps.