Devdutt Padikkal and Manish Pandey cracked attractive hundreds to power Karnataka to a commanding 461 for 6 against Punjab on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match on Saturday. Padikkal (193, 216b, 24x4, 4x6) and Pandey (118, 165b, 13x4, 3x6) ensured that Karnataka led by a massive 309 runs in the first innings at close, after bundling out their rivals for a lowly 152 on the first day.
At Valsad, Tamil Nadu managed to eke out a small yet crucial 14-run first innings lead over Gujarat. After bowling out Gujarat for 236, TN struggled to get going in their first innings as they lost regular wickets as leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (4/73) and pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/35) rocked them. But a ninth-wicket alliance between M. Mohammed (85, 99 balls) and Sandeep Warrier (38) helped TN take the vital lead. Pacer Warrier returned to take three wickets as TN reduced Gujarat to 38 for three in their second innings and the latter now leads by 24 runs.
Meanwhile, batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara, ignored for the two-Test series against South Africa, cracked an unbeaten century as defending champions Saurashtra made a mockery of the Jharkhand bowling attack to score 406/4 on day 2. Pujara was 157 not out at stumps, and giving him company at 23 was Prerak Mankad. Saurashtra, who had bundled out Jharkhand for a paltry 142 on the opening day with Chirag Jani taking his maiden five-for in First-Class cricket, are in complete control after having taken a 264-run lead with opener Harvik Desai (85), Sheldon Jackson (54) and Arpit Vasavada (68) being the other notable contributors.
In Delhi, pacer Gaurav Yadav ripped through the home team’s batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul in a devastating spell as Puducherry shot the home side out for 148 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match here on Saturday. In reply, Puducherry were 113 for 2 in 29 overs at close of play with Paras Ratnaparkhe and Paras Dogra batting on 31 and 18 respectively. Senior pacer Ishant Sharma and Himanshu Chauhan took a wicket apiece for Delhi. Puducherry trailed by 35 runs with eight first-innings wickets in hand. Earlier in the day, Gaurav Yadav added five more wickets to his overnight two as he almost single-handedly decimated the Delhi batting line-up. Abin Mathew took two wickets while Saurabh Yadav got one.
Meanwhile, Rinku Singh missed out on a century (92) as Kerala restricted Uttar Pradesh to 302 in 83.4 overs. In reply, Kerala were 220/6 at stumps. Vishnu Vinod top-scored for them with 74 runs while Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets. Hyderabad, after posting 474, dismissed Nagaland twice to register an innings victory.
Select scores
Jharkhand 142 vs Saurashtra 406/4 in 119 ovs ( Pujara 157 batting, Vasavada 68); Punjab 152 in 46.5 ovs vs Karnataka 461/6 in 123 ovs (Padikkal 193, Manish 118, Sharath 55 batting); Gujarat 236 & 38/3 in 13 ovs (Warrier 3/5) vs Tamil Nadu 250 in 67.5 ovs (M Mohammed 85, Warrier 38; Bishnoi 4/73); Delhi 148 in 62.5 ovs (Tyagi 34, Gaurav 7/49) vs Pondicherry 113/2 in 29 ovs (Paras Ratnaparkhe 31 batting, Ishant 1/28); Bengal 409 in 126.2 ovs (Anustup 125, Porel 70) vs Andhra 119/3 in 48.1 ovs (Prashanth Kumar 41, Vihari 6 batting); Hyderabad 474/5 in 76.4 ovs (Tilak 100 n.o, Rahul 241) bt Nagaland 153 in 51.3 ovs (Jaganathsinivas 49, Tanay 5/43) & 127 in 34.5 ovs (Sumit Kumar 62, Milind 4/21); Uttar Pradesh 302 in 83.4 ovs (Rinku 92; Nidheesh MD 3/68) vs Kerala 220/6 in 65 ovs (Vishnu Vinod 74, Kuldeep 3/66).