Rana stars with bat and ball as Haryana fight back

Bengal 169 for 2 (Arindam Das 65*, Jhunjhunwala 55) trail Railways 259 (Saxena 65, Bose 5-55) by runs
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Fifties from Arindam Das and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala saw Bengal close the second day at Kolkata 90 runs behind Railways' first-innings 259. Ranadeb Bose was the star performer for Bengal earlier in the day, putting a poor season behind him by bagging a five-wicket haul that saw Railways collapse before lunch. Vineet Saxena top-scored with 65 before he fell leg before to Bose, while Yere Goud pulled his weight for a vital 47. Railways, who were relegated to the Plate Group following a draw with Maharashtra last week, have only pride to play for in this match.

Haryana 221 for 6 (Rana 59) trail Services 241 (Sarabjit Singh 89, Rana 4-47) by 20 runs
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Sachin Rana led Haryana's reply to Services' first-innings 241 with a gritty half-century before Siddharth Verma and Joginder Sharma safely negotiated the final session of play on the second day at Palam. Services, 226 for 5 overnight, were unable to add much to that total as Joginder and Rana ran through the tail following Sarabjit's run-out for a well-made 89. Following a four-wicket haul with the ball, Rana turned in a credible showing with the bat. Coming to the wicket with Haryana on 77 for 4, Rana shouldered the responsibility of building an innings admirably. Following his dismissal, Verma and Joginder have added 58 runs for the seventh wicket and Haryana will look to the duo to extend that partnership into a sizeable innings lead tomorrow.

Delhi 85 for 3 trail Tamil Nadu 481 for 6 decl (Badrinath 206*, Badani 94) by 396 runs
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Delhi, troubled by a crucial spell from Aashish Kapoor, the veteran offspinner, trail Tamil Nadu by 396 runs after Subramaniam Badrinath's maiden double hundred allowed TN to declare it's first innings on 481 for 6 at Chennai. Badrinath and Hemang Badani, the former TN captain, added 196 for the third wicket before Badani was dismissed by Chaitanya Nanda six short of a deserved century. Vital contributions from Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper, and Sridharan Sharath aided Badrinath in his marathon innings. Delhi, at the lower half of the Elite Group A points table and with little going their way this season, have their task cut out in the two days remaining in this match.

Baroda 201 and 150 for 3 lead (Williams 60*) lead Hyderabad 131 (Joshi 4-15) by 248 runs
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Baroda returned from an indifferent batting display yesterday to completely outclass Hyderabad on the second day at Vadodara, dismissing them for just 131 and then extending their lead to 244 at stumps thanks to Connor Williams's second fifty of the match. For Hyderabad, it was a poor showing with the bat as nine wickets fell for the addition of just 103 runs. Shekhar Joshi, the medium fast bowler, and Yusuf Pathan, who got Baroda out of trouble with a vital fifty yesterday, shared seven wickets between them. Kiran Powar, who fell for a seven-ball duck in the first innings, was at the wicket unbeaten on 46.

Andhra 155 for 6 trail Uttar Pradesh 365 (Pandey 88, P Kumar 78, Kalyankrishna 5-105) by 210 runs
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Uttar Pradesh backed up a fighting lower-order contribution earlier in the day by restricting Andhra to 155 for 6 on the second day at Anantapur. Krishna Singh, Venugopal Rao and Ambati Rayadu all got starts but fritted away the initiative as UP's bowlers turned in a tight spell in the second half of the day. With UP 217 for 5 at the end of yesterday's play, Andhra would have been looking to dismiss them for under 300. However, UP's lower order had other ideas and combined for an invaluable 148 runs in the first two sessions. Gyanendra Pandey extended his overnight score to 88 while P Kumar went on to smash a career-best 78 off 68 deliveries, complete with four sixes. D Kalyankrishna, though often bearing the brunt of the UP innings, collected figures of 5 for 105.

Maharashtra 213 and 73 for 3 lead Mumbai 175 (Powar 78*, M Patel 5-79) by 111 runs
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Five wickets from Munaf Patel dismissed Mumbai for 175 - despite an unbeaten 78 from Ramesh Powar - as Maharashtra tightened their grip over the opposition on day two at the Wankhede Stadium. Resuming the day on 20 for 2, Mumbai were soon reeling on 47 for 6 as Patel produced a fine opening spell. Vinit Indulkar (40) and Powar resurrected much of the damage in a 94-run stand for the seventh wicket before Patel and Suyash Burkul returned to mop up the lower order. In their second innings, Maharashtra have progressed to 73 for 3 and will hope that Mansigh Nigde - unbeaten on 27 - can carry on the good work on day three.

Karnataka 163 and 68 for 1 trail Gujarat 247 (Watekar 64*, Makda 62) by 16 runs
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Contrasting fifties from Hemal Watekar and Asif Makda gave Gujarat an 84-run lead earlier in the day, but Karnataka had whittled that down to just 16 by stumps at Ahmedabad. With Gujarat precariously placed at 67 for 6, Watekar was forced to put his head down and graft for 226 minutes and 164 balls for an unbeaten 64. His partner in a vital 85-run stand for the eight wicket was Makda, clubbing three sixes in a 49-ball 62, a career-best innings for the Gujarat fast bowler. Karnataka, for their part, have batted with much more composure than in their first innings, and with Robin Uthappa at the wicket as play resumes tomorrow, fireworks are never far away.