Ranji: Murali powers TN to 112-run lead

Amritsar: Opener Murali Vijay blasted a classy 148 to help Tamil Nadu take a 112-run first innings lead with four wickets in hand over a hapless Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match here on Wednesday.

Murali featured in two crucial century partnerships, first a 154-run opening stand with Abhinav Mukund (61) and then raising 148 runs with Arun Karthik (73) to guide Tamil Nadu to 340 for six after bowling out Punjab for 228.

Dinesh Karthik (18) was on crease when stumps were drawn after the visitors lost a wicket on the last ball of the day in 76.4 over.

Initially picked up in the 15-member squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka, Murali was relieved from duty to represent his state in the Ranji Trophy and the strapping right-hander made ample use of the opportunity.

His innings of 148 off 218 balls was bejewelled with 16 hits to the fence and three sixes.

For Punjab, Sarabjit Ladda (3/90) was the pick of the bowlers.

Earlier, resuming at overnight score of 212 for 7 in 90 overs, Punjab lasted another 8.1 overs adding just 16 runs to the total.

Baroda fold for 234

Ghaziabad: Twin half-centuries from India discard Irfan Pathan (59) and Rakesh Solanki (58) could not resurrect Baroda from a top-order collapse as they were shot out for 234 by Uttar Pradesh on the second day of Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match here on Wednesday.

In reply, Uttar Pradesh were 36 for no loss from 11 overs in their first innings with Tanmay Srivastava (14) and Shivakant Shukla (22) at the crease.

After losing the opening day's play due to wet wicket, Baroda batted first today, only to see their top order crumble like a house of cards.

At one time, the visitors were 78 for five in the morning session itself before captain Irfan and Solanki revived the innings a bit with a 91-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Openers Connor Williams (15) and Satyajit Parab (0) were out cheaply while one-down Azhar Bilakhia contributed 35. Jacob Martin and Yusuf Pathan were the other two Baroda batsmen out for a duck.

After trying to revive the Baroda innings with his 71-ball knock studded with six fours and one six, Irfan fell to Piyush Chawla as the visitors slumped to 169 for six.

Six runs later, Solanki also followed suit, falling to Chawla, after hitting seven four from 114 balls.

Iqbal, Harmeet bowl Mumbai back into game

Mumbai: Left-arm spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Harmeet Singh scalped four wickets each as Mumbai crawled back into the game by trailing Himachal Pradesh by just eight runs with 10 wickets and two days still in hand on second day of their Super League Group A Ranji Trophy match here on Wednesday.

Iqbal (4-48) and the 17-year-old debutant Harmeet (4-89) helped the hosts bowled out Himachal, chasing Mumbai's first innings score of 162, for 246 thereby restricting their lead to just 84.

Openers Sahil Kukreja 35 (70 balls, 4x5) and Ajinkya Rahane 38 (119 balls, 4x2) then began Mumbai second innings cautiously and shared an unbroken 76-run stand before stumps were drawn for the day.

Earlier, beginning the day at an overnight score of 100-3, the visitors played into Mumbai's hand by adopting an over-cautious approach on a track where batting was difficult.

Overnight batsman Bhavin Thakkar 88 (266 balls, 4x11), who top-scored for the hosts, and Vinit Indulkar 27 (97 balls, 4x5) added just 33 runs in about 20 overs, when pacer Dhaval Kulkarni ended the latter's misery by having him caught behind.

Mukesh Sharma was run-out at the stroke of lunch as Himachal went into the break at 160 for 5. Once Thakkar was bowled by Iqbal with the score at 185, the lower-order batsmen threw their wickets away trying to be unnecessarily aggressive against the Mumbai spinners. .

Asnodkar shines with hundred

Margao: Riding on Swapnil Asnodkar's brilliant century, Goa scored a solid 338 and later reduced Rajasthan to 42 for three on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Plate division group A match here on Wednesday.

Resuming at 149 for four, after a delayed start due to overnight rains, Goa's overnight batsmen -- Asnodkar (136) and Rahul Keni (69)-- batted through the morning session.

The hosts reached a comfortable 223-4 at lunch but lost wickets quickly in the following session. Asnodkar, who hit his eighth first class century, and Keni added 128 for the fifth wicket.

Asnodkar's hundred was laced with 14 fours and a six. The visitors got the breakthrough soon after lunch when Keni became Pankaj Singh's victim, trapped infront of the wicket.

Pankaj Singh then bowled Saurabh Bandekar (four) to claim his fourth victim. Gajendra Singh then sent back Robin D'Souza (38) and Amit Yadav (9) to complete his three-wicket haul.

Rajasthan, in reply, were tottering at 42 for three when stumps were drawn with Pranay Sharma (23) and Madhur Khatri (0) at the crease. S Bandekar dismissed opener Vinit Saxena (0) and Rajesh Vishnoi (2) to grab two wickets while Shadab Jakati accounted for Robin Bhist (7).

Vidarbha struggle at 217-9 against Tripura

Nagpur: Vidarbha were struggling at 217 for the loss of nine wickets in their first innings after being put into bat by Tripura on the second day of the Ranji Trophy plate division group A match at the VCA Jamtha stadium here on Wednesday.

Tripura medium pacers Rana Datta (2-34) and Wilkin Mota (3-43), aided by some insensible batting from the Vidarbha batsmen, enabled the visitors gain the upper hand after rains had washed the first day's play.

Leg spinner Subal Choudhary claimed two late wickets conceding only 11 runs.

For Vidarbha, Ravi Jangid (45), Himanshu Joshi (38) and opener and debutant Akshay Kolhar (33) ensured that the hosts avoided a total collapse.

The last wicket pair of Sandeep Singh (13) and Umesh Yadav (4) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.