Raina and Tiwary crack big hundreds

Uttar Pradesh 410 for 7 (Raina 203, Chawla 59*) lead Orissa 216 by 194 runs
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Suresh Raina hit a smashing double-century to put Uttar Pradesh in a commanding situation against Orissa in Cuttack. Raina's 203 came off only 217 balls and featured 27 fours and two sixes - 120 runs in boundaries. Raina's score was just 13 less than Orissa's total and took 167 fewer deliveries. This was his first first-class double-century, beating his previous best of 127.

Raina had come in to bat when UP were struggling at 35 for 3 and left them at 360 for 7. He was supported well by Shivakant Shukla, Ravikant Shukla and wicketkeeper Amir Khan. UP were not done, though, as Piyush Chawla made Orissa suffer further with an unbeaten 59 off 62 balls.

Bengal 289 for 5 (Tiwary 147*) v Hyderabad
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Manoj Tiwary carried on from where he had left last season with a characteristically quick unbeaten 147 to take Bengal to 289 for 5 at stumps on day one at Eden Gardens. When Tiwary came in to bat, Bengal were in a somewhat tricky situation at 67 for 2. Right from the start, he attacked and capitalised on an inexperienced Hyderabad attack.

His century came up in 111 balls with 14 fours and two sixes, after which Bengal lost two quick wickets on 221. With stumps approaching, Tiwary scored only 36 off the next 102 balls. Debutant wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, though, picked up the scoring rate from the other end and finished unbeaten on 34 off 53 balls. Saha's was the second-highest contribution in Bengal's innings.

Delhi 119 and 6 for 0 (Singh 5-43, Mathur 3-32) lead Rajasthan 85 (Bhatia 3-16, Sangwan 3-29) by 40 runs
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Twenty wickets fell on a manic Sunday at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium as Delhi were bowled out for 119 but still secured a 34-run first-innings lead by stumps, bowling out Rajasthan for 85. Only seven of 22 batsmen reached double figures and a wicket fell every 23 balls.

Delhi had been given a stable start and were 62 for 1 at one stage, but Rajasthan medium-pacers Pankaj Singh and Sumit Mathur never let them off the hook once the slide started. Pankaj finished with a deserved 5 for 43.

Rajasthan looked shaky from the start and never really threatened to go past Delhi's total. Only opener Vineet Saxena showed any inclination to fight, as he slugged it out for 173 minutes to score 35. He was the ninth man out. All the Delhi bowlers had impressive figures, with Rajat Bhatia and Pradeep Sangwan scalping three each, and Kunal Lal and Amit Bhandari getting two wickets each.

Mumbai 302 for 7 (Naik 78, Kukreja 66) lead Karnataka 195 (Powar 5-69) by 107 runs
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Mumbai, led by half-centuries from Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer and Prashant Naik, consolidated on a superb bowling performance to take Mumbai towards a sizable first-innings lead against Karnataka. Jaffer and Kukreja provided them with just the start they needed after having dismissed Karnataka for 195.

A mini collapse was later arrested by Naik who came in after the fall of three wickets in ten balls. He forged crucial alliances with Amol Muzumdar (48 for the fourth wicket) and Abhishek Nayar (44 for the fifth) to take Mumbai past Karnataka's total. After Naik fell 274, Ajit Agarkar and Vinayak Samant saw them to stumps and a lead of 107.

Punjab 173 for 3 (Kaul 79*, Dharmani 63*) trail Andhra 334 (Gagandeep 4-53) by 159 runs
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Uday Kaul and Pankaj Dharmani rescued Punjab from a precarious situation to leave their match against Andhra at Amritsar in fine balance. In reply to Andhra's 334, the hosts were 56 for 3 at one stage, but Dharmani and Kaul batted for more than 52 overs and ensured that Punjab ended the second day without any further loss, still 159 runs in arrears.

Dharmani, the wicketkeeper-batsman captain, is playing his 120th game. Kaul, 19, who is a wicketkeeper himself, is playing his tenth first-class game. Both of them put their heads down and negotitated the tough time well. Earlier, their bowlers had recovered well to take the last four Andhra wickets for 40 runs. Gagandeep Singh ended with figures of 4 for 53.

Himachal Pradesh 175 for 8 (Sharma 82, Makvana 4-37) trail Saurashtra 291 (Thakur 6-73) by 116 runs
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Himachal Pradesh's middle order collapsed to let Saurashtra fight their way back after Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh threatened to bat Saurashtra out with a 119-run second-wicket stand. From 131 for 1, HP's next seven wickets fell for 40 runs, leaving Saurashtra at the threshold of a big first-innings lead. Sharma was looking good for a hundred when he fell lbw to left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv. Then, the offspin-left-arm spin duo of Kamlesh Makvana and Dhurv proved to be too much for HP as one wicket fell after the other.

Earlier, Ashok Thakur, the HP left-arm opening bowler, cleared up the Saurashtra tail to restrict them to a manageable total. From an overnight 262 for 6, Saurashtra could manage only 291. Thakur took three of the four wickets that fell in the morning.

Maharashtra 272 for 4 (Khadiwale 126, Takawale 60*) v Tamil Nadu
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Only 3.2 overs were possible in Chennai because of rains and Maharashtra moved from a comfortable 261 for 4 to 272 for 4 in that duration. Overnight batsman Yogesh Takawale added eight to his 52. Yesterday Harshad Khadiwale, the Maharashtra opener playing his sixth first-class match, scored his maiden century to lead Maharashtra's batting.