Joshi's five-for gives Karnataka advantage

Rains across the country meant that little or no play was possible in five out of the seven Super League matches on Wednesday. Karnataka would have been happy that weather didn't interrupt their match against Orissa at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, as they managed to bowl the visitors out for 191 on the first day. Orissa ended the day on a positive note, taking two Karnataka wickets for 18 runs before stumps. Sunil Joshi, the former India spinner who completed the double of 5000 runs and 500 wickets in first-class cricket in Karnataka's last match, took 5 for 35 as Karnataka struck at regular intervals after putting Orissa in to bat. Niranjan Behera was left stranded on 83 not out after facing 235 balls and watching nine wickets fall at the other end. Adithya Sagar gave Karnataka two early breakthroughs, removing both Orissa openers within the first three overs of the morning and then Joshi ripped through Orissa's middle-order. Karnataka and Orissa are separated by just two points in the Group B table, having played two games each.

Himachal Pradesh surprised table-toppers Uttar Pradesh, bowling them out for 197 on the first day at Green Park in Kanpur, but what could have been a perfect day for them was ruined in the last over, when they lost two wickets to finish at 9 for 2. Himachal seamer Rishi Dhawan, playing in only his fourth first-class match, picked up his maiden five-for as UP lost wickets at regular intervals. RP Singh, the left-arm seamer who has played 13 Tests for India, was UP's surprise top-scorer with 47, while their leading run-getter this season Parvinder Singh missed out on a half-century, falling for 46. Singh then gave UP an opening back in to the game, taking two wickets in his last over of the day.

Only 48 overs were bowled at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, where Baroda crawled to 94 for 1 against Punjab. Baroda, who will be trying to get over the horrific collapse that saw them lose to UP in the last round, were put in to bat and their openers Connor Williams and Jaykishan Kolsawala made steady progress before Kolsawala edged one behind off Manpreet Gony, the Chennai Super Kings fast bowler. Yusuf Pathan and Ambiti Rayudu are not playing for Baroda and have been replaced with Jyot Chhaya and Utkarsh Patel.

Railways could fit only eight overs in after play began at 4.30pm in their match against Tamil Nadu at the IIT Chemplast Ground in Chennai. Tamil Nadu were put in to bat and Abhinav Mukund hit three boundaries taking the hosts to 26 for 1 at stumps. Railways are currently languishing at second from bottom in the Group A table, while Tamil Nadu are second, having one won game and drawn two others.

There was no play in any of the other Group A matches scheduled to start on Wednesday. At the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Amol Muzumdar will have to wait for his return to Mumbai to face his old team as Assam take on table-toppers Mumbai. Saurashtra are at the foot of the table and will welcome back Cheteshwar Pujara from India duty for their match against Delhi at the Khandheri Cricket Stadium in Rajkot. Laxmi Shukla, the Bengal allrounder fresh from his double-century in the last round, will have to wait till Thursday to see some action, as the first day of Bengal's match against Gujarat at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad was washed out.