UP turn the screw on Bengal

Uttar Pradesh 437 for 7 (Kaif 91, Raina 63, Paul 5-99) lead Bengal 149 by 288 runs
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Half-centuries from Mohammad Kaif, Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar put Uttar Pradesh in a position to press for an outright win after they had shot Bengal out for 149 on the first day. They ended the second day with a lead of 288 with three wickets in hand.

Resuming at 128 for 2, UP lost Suresh Raina, who started the day on 55, for the addition of only eight more runs. Kaif got good support from Ravikant Shukla and Chawla, as he added 92 and 86 with them for the fifth and sixth wickets. Kaif fell nine short of a century, while Chawla scored 53. Praveen took the lead close to 300 with an unbeaten 50 off 71 deliveries.

Himachal Pradesh 180 for 7 (Paras Dogra 42, Hussain 4-37) trail Mumbai 370 (Samant 60*) by 190 runs
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Himachal Pradesh suffered two mini collapses, struggling against Mumbai in Dharamsala. They were reduced from 56 without loss to 78 for 4 and then from 156 for 4 to 164 for 7 before bad light intervened and stopped play early. Debutant Hemant Dogra, Paras's elder brother, had given Himachal a good start in partnership with Manish Gupta, but Himachal went on to lose wickets in bunches, as has been the case with them earlier this season too. Maninder Bisla and Paras resurrected the innings with a 78-run fifth-wicket stand, but they lost three wickets in a hurry again. Murtaza Hussain took four wickets for Mumbai.

Earlier Vinayak Samant, in partnership with Hussain, had taken Mumbai from their overnight score of 324 for 9 to 370. Samant stayed unbeaten on 60.

Maharashtra 136 and 34 for 1 trail Saurashtra 253 (Kotak 108, Fallah 3-52) by 89 runs
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Shitanshu Kotak scored a painstaking century - his 11th in first-class cricket - to secure Saurashtra a 117-run first-innings lead against Maharashtra in Nagothane. Maharashtra lost one wicket in 15 overs before stumps to end the second day 83 runs in deficit with nine wickets in hand.

Kotak's 108 off 277 deliveries was a crucial knock as the second-highest score for Saurashtra was Cheteshwar Pujara's 35. Resuming at 73 for 2, Saurashtra were in trouble at 100 for 5 when Kotak and Ravindra Jadeja took them past Maharashtra's 136 with a 59-run partnership. Kotak shared a 55-run ninth-wicket stand with Sandeep Jobanputra, who followed his four wickets with 24 runs.

Andhra 434 for 8 (Prasad 95*, Sumanth 72) v Baroda
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Andhra continued with their slow but solid progress in Visakhapatnam against Baroda as half-centuries from MSK Prasad and B Sumanth took them to 434 for 8. After Andhra had lost overnight half-centurion Gnaneshwara Rao without any addition to their score, Prasad and Sumanth added 115 for the sixth wicket to further frustrate Baroda. Wickets didn't come quickly even after Sumanth's dismissal for 72, as Prasad found able partners in Marripuri Suresh, G Shankara Rao and D Kalyankrishna. The seventh and eighth wickets cost Baroda 35 and 30, while Prasad and Kalyankrishna had added 40 for the ninth wicket when stumps were called. Prasad ended the day five short of his century.

Punjab 207 for 8 (Kakkar 53, Basanth Mohanty 4-42) trail Orissa 323 (Siddarth Kaul 5-79) by 116 runs
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Basanth Mohanty took four wickets to put Orissa in sight of a sizeable first-innings lead as they dismissed eight Punjab batsmen for 207 on the second day in Mohali. This is Basanth's second match and he had taken eight wickets in his first game.

In reply to Orissa's 323, Punjab made a solid start to reach 46 without loss, but lost five wickets in a hurry to be reduced to 91 for 5. The Mohantys - Basanth and Debasis - took two wickets each in that burst. The resistance put by Ankur Kakkar was cut short by Basanth, as he dismissed him for 53. Things could have been much better for Orissa but for the 22 no-balls they bowled. Earlier Orissa's last two wickets added 50 more to their overnight 273 for 8.

Karnataka 0 for 0 trail Delhi 538 (Kohli 169, Manhas 124, Vinay Kumar 5-121) by 538 runs
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The run fest continued for Delhi in Bangalore as Mithun Manhas became the third batsman to score a century to lift his team to 538 in their first innings. Virat Kohli, 154 overnight, fell early but Manhas made sure the batting didn't come apart. All three centurions scored their second hundreds of the season. Manhas hit 20 fours and a six in his innings of 124. R Vinay Kumar had to toil for 40.5 overs for his five wickets, while Sunil Joshi bowled 42 overs for three. Bad light brought an early end to the day, as Karnataka faced only one ball.

Tamil Nadu 302 for 3 (Badrinath 138, Vijay 112*) v Rajasthan
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No play was possible on the second day in Chennai because of persistent rains. On the first day, S Badrinath and M Vijay had scored centuries to put Tamil Nadu in a commanding position against Rajasthan.