File photo – Karun Nair and Robin Uthappa put on an unbroken double-century stand © PTI
Unbeaten centuries from Robin Uthappa and Karun Nair helped Karnataka regain the impetus against Assam at stumps in Mumbai.
Karnataka began the day by breaking the overnight stand, as Stuart Binny removed Swarupam Purkayastha for 59. Former Karnataka batsman Amit Verma, who had rescued Assam on the first day, then scored 40 of the 50 runs put on by Assam’s last three wickets. He remained unbeaten on 166 as Assam folded for 325. Legspinner Shreyas Gopal took the last three wickets to finish with 3 for 74. Sreenath Aravind didn’t add to his five-for from the first day.
In response, Karnataka were in early trouble, losing both openers for ducks. But Uthappa and Nair joined together to put on an unbroken 219-run stand to take Karnataka to 223 for 2 at stumps. Both of them were on 108.
Maharashtra ended day two with the advantage, after putting on 461 against Rajasthan in Hyderabad.
Naushad Shaikh and Rahul Tripathi extended their overnight 63-run stand to 122 before Shaikh fell for 143. Tripathi, who began the day on 18, fell short of his fourth first-class century when he was dismissed for 95. Wicketkeeper Vishant More (67) then batted with the tail to score his first half-century and take Rajasthan to 461. He was the last one to be dismissed, falling to Pankaj Singh who finished with 4 for 87.
Rajasthan played 30 overs to reach 76 for 2 at stumps, after losing their first two wickets with 29 on the board. Manender Singh (31) and Ashok Menaria (19) took them to stumps without further damage.
A 114-run partnership for the fourth wicket between centurion Gautam Gambhir and Rishabh Pant helped Delhi finish the second day with a 114-run lead over Odisha in Mohali.
The Delhi openers started the day on 43, with an overnight deficit of 194 runs. Unmukt Chand (19) was dismissed by Suryakant Pradhan in the fourth over of the day. Delhi captain Gambhir put on 71 for the second-wicket with Dhruv Shorey (29) and then joined 19-year-old Pant (80) to put on a the century-stand to help Delhi overtake Odisha’s 237. Pant was dismissed by Dhiraj Singh in the 67th over, and Gambhir fell seven overs after, three runs short of 150. Milind Kumar (39) and Manan Sharma took Delhi to 351 for 7 at stumps.
Dhiraj Singh took 3 for 61, while offspinner Govinda Poddar took 2 for 65 for Odisha.
Vidarbha finished the day 209 runs behind Jharkhand at stumps in Wayanand.
Beginning the day on 146 for 1, Jharkhand lost both their overnight batsmen in the opening session, before Saurabh Tiwary (45) and Ishank Jaggi put on 83 runs for the fourth wicket. Jaggi went on to score his second consecutive first-class century, but found no support from the lower-order as he remained not-out on 112. Jharkhand lost their last 5 wickets for 74 runs, before declaring on 362 for 8. Medium-pacers Shrikant Wagh and Rajneesh Gurbani, and left-arm spinner Akshay Karnewar all finished with two wickets each.
Vidarbha’s Sanjay Ramaswamy and Faiz Fazal played out the last 11 overs of the day to finish on 48 for 0.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo