A summary of Day 2 action in the Ranji Trophy matches, played at various venues across the country.
Lalit Yadav hammered 10 sixes en route his maiden first-class hundred and batted brilliantly with the tail to put Delhi in a strong position against Tamil Nadu on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy Group H match, in Guwahati, on Friday.
Resuming the day on 291 for 7, Delhi ended up with an imposing first innings score of 452 all out courtesy Yadav's 177 off 287 balls.
Delhi also got two crucial wickets before stumps, leaving Tamil Nadu on 75 for 2, trailing by 377 runs.
If the opening day belonged to India Undia-19 star Yash Dhull, Friday was all about Yadav, who batted fearlessly in his entertaining innings, which was studded with 10 sixes and 17 fours.
His knock was not all about brutal hitting. The 25-year-old shielded the tail, including Simarjeet Singh (19 off 57), Vikash Mishra (7 off 58) and Kuldip Yadav (9 not out off 37), to ensure Delhi score beyond 450.
Yadav, who is rated highly by Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, carried his impressive white-ball form in domestic cricket to play the best innings of his 12-match first-class career.
He hit boundaries all-around the wicket and reached his half-century with a flat six over mid-wicket off pacer M Mohammed before getting to three figures with consecutive straight sixes off spinner R Sai Kishore. He even got to his 150 with a boundary.
His memorable innings ended when he edged an attempted drive to first slip off Sai Kishore. What followed was a standing ovation from his teammates.
Tamil Nadu openers Kaushik Gandhi (37 batting) and Laxmesha Suryaprakash (23) shared a 50-run stand before the latter was dismissed by Kuldip.
Vikas Mishra dismissed Baba Aparajith (0) and made it 56 for 2.
Brief scores:
Delhi 452 all out in 141.2 overs (Yash Dhull 113, Jonty Sidhu 71, Lalit Yadav 177; Mohammd Mohammed 4/75) vs Tamil Nadu 75/2 in 30 overs.
Shah's maiden double ton puts Maharashtra on top
Rohtak: Debutant Pavan Shah slammed a maiden double hundred to propel Maharashtra to an imposing 415 and put them in a commanding position against Assam on the second day of their Elite Group G Ranji Trophy game, in Rohtak, on Friday.
The 22-year-old Shah, a right-handed batter, who hails from Chinchwad near Pune, took the pedestrian Assam attack to the cleaners as he hammered 20 boundaries and two maximums enroute his 219 off 401 balls.
Shah started from his overnight score on unbeaten 165, and remained the cynosure of eyes at the Choudhry Bansilal stadium as he kept playing his shots at will.
The right-handed batter, a product of the Verroc Vengsarkar academy, stitched a 112-run stand with number seven Diyang Hinganekar (46; 7x4), who played his role to perfection.
But in-form Assam pacer Mukhtar Hussain (5/88) trapped Hinganekar in front of the wicket as Maharashtra lost its sixth wicket for 296.
But there was more agony in store for Assam as Shah found an able ally in Satyajeet Bachhav, who hit a patient 52 in 108 balls, striking six boundaries and a maximum.
The Shah-Bachhav duo added 74 vital runs for the seventh wicket. It was Bachhav's knock that eventually helped the western team cross the 400-mark and ensure that it would be an uphill task for Assam batters.
After Bachhav fell, the Assam bowlers quickly rattled the tail.
In reply, Assam lost opener Rishav Das (14) cheaply, who became Mukesh Choudhary's first victim. Even one-down batter Gokul Sharma (5) perished early as they were reeling at 32/2.
But opener Subham Mandal (34 not out) and the talented all-rounder Riyan Parag (26 not out ) then steadied the ship with a 49-run unbroken stand for the third wicket and held fort till stumps were drawn.
At stumps, Assam were 81 for 2, still adrift by 334 runs.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 415 all out (Pawan Shah 219; Satyajeet Bachhav 52; Mukhtar Hussain 5/88, Arup Das 2/86) versus Assam 81/2 (Subham Mandal 34 not out, Riyan Parag 26 not out; Manoj Ingle 1/5).
Assam trail by 334 runs.
At Sultanpur: Uttar Pradesh 301 all out (Akshdeep Nath 91, Rinku Singh 65; Dhruv Jurel 64; Aditya Sarwate 5/86, Aditya Thakare 2/43, Umesh Yadav 2/58) versus Vidarbha 256/2 (Faiz Fazal 142 not out, Sanjay Ramaswamy 96; Ankit Rajpoot 1/50, Saurabh Kumar 1/84).
Vidarbha trail by 45 runs.
Arindam Ghosh leads Railways' solid response to Karnataka's 481
Chennai: Arindam Ghosh hit an unbeaten half-century to lead Railways' strong response to Karnataka's huge first innings score of 481 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match.
Railways finished the second day at 213 for 3. The team's cause was helped by Ghosh's knock of 78 (108 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) and fifties by Mrunal Devdhar and Vivek Singh after Karnataka had rode on tons by skipper Manish Pandey's 156, (121 balls, 12 fours, 10 sixes) and K V Siddharth's unbeaten 146 (250 balls, 18X4, 2X6) to post a huge total.
Resuming at 392 for 5, Karnataka lost the wicket of overnight not-out batsman Siddharth after he had added six runs to his score.
Railways hit back with some quick wickets and had the opposition at 438 for 9.
All-rounder K Gowtham, however, had different ideas, as he chose to go on the attack, hammering four boundaries and four sixes in his 32-ball 52 to enable Karnataka to swell its total.
For Railways, debutant right-arm medium-pacer Yuvraj Singh finished with a five-wicket haul, which prevented Karnataka from posting an even bigger score.
The Railways openers Devdhar and Vivek Singh began in earnest in response to the massive total by the opposition and added 110 runs for the first wicket.
Gowtham hit back by dismissing Devdhar and Shivam Choudhary (8) in the space of eight runs. Vivek Singh and Ghosh added 80 runs to steady the ship.
Singh's 174-ball vigil ended when Gowtham had him caught behind by S Sharath. Ghosh and Mohammad Saif (8 batting) saw through the last few overs safely. Railways are still 268 runs behind Karnataka's first innings score.
In the other match, Jammu and Kashmir ended Day 2 on 260 for 3 after dismissing Pondicherry for 343 thanks to a battling, unbeaten 96 by opener Qamran Iqbal and half-century by debutant Jatin Wadhawan (69).
Brief scores:
Karnataka 481 all out in 109.3 overs (K V Siddharth 146, Manish Pandey 156 (121b, 12x4, 10x6, K Gowtham 52, R Samarth 47, Yuvraj 5 for 93) vs Railways 213 for 3 in 65 overs (Arindam Ghosh 78 batting, Vivek Singh 59, Mrunal Devdhar 56, Gowtham 3 for 71).
Pondicherry: 343 all out in 104.3 overs (Paras Dogra 108 (187 balls, 12x4, 2x6), S Karthik 63 (131 balls, 5x4), Fabid Ahmed 37, Parvez Rasool 4 for 56, Umran Malik 3 for 89) vs Jammu & Kashmir 260 for 3 in 73 overs (Qamran Iqbal 96 batting (218 balls,13x4, 2x6), Jatin Wadhawan 69 (100 balls, 10x4, 1x6), Shubham Singh Pundir 51 (88 balls, 10x4), Abdul Samad 42 batting, Sagar Trivedi 2 for 45).
Het Patel keeps Gujarat in hunt for first innings lead vs MP
Rajkot: Wicketkeeper Het Patel hit a patient 72 off 139 balls to keep Gujarat in the hunt for a crucial first innings lead against Madhya Pradesh on the second day of their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match at the SCA stadium.
Madhya Pradesh, which started at the overnight score of 235 for 7, were bundled out for 274 in 96.3 overs.
In reply, Gujarat ended the day with 244 for 6, thanks to Patel's crucial knock, which was studded with eight fours and a lone six.
Gujarat still trail by 30 runs.
At one stage, Gujarat were reeling on 167 for 5, as their top-order faltered despite decent contributions from skipper Priyank Panchal and Manprit Juneja.
He Patel found an able partner in Karan Patel (40 not out; 8x4), as the two forged a 70-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Het was the more aggressive one, while Karan played his part to perfection.
But when it looked like the duo would take their team past MP's total, Gaurav Yadav trapped Het in front of the wicket, as Gujarat lost their sixth wicket for 237.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat lost opener Kathan Patel (3) and one-down Bhargav Merai (4) cheaply, and they were reeling at 35 for 2.
Skipper Priyank Panchal hit 52 (9x4) while seasoned campaigner Manprit Juneja scored 53 as the MP bowlers, led by pacer Ishwar Chandra Pandey (3/50), kept striking at regular intervals.
When the stumps were drawn, Karan Patel had Roosh Kalaria (6 not out) for company.
Brief scores:
Madhya Pradesh 274 all out (Shubham Sharma 92, Rajat Patidar 54; Arzan Nagwaswalla 5/59, Roosh Kalaria 2/52) against Gujarat 244/6 (Het Patel 72, Manprit Juneja 53; Ishwar Pandey 3/50, Gourav Yadav 2/59).
Gujarat trail by 30 runs.
At Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium, Ground C:
Meghalaya 148 all out (Punit Bist 93, Kishan Lyngdoh 26; Edhen Tom 4/41, Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan 3/34) against Kerala 454 for 8 (Rahul P 147, Rohan Kunnummal 107, Vathsal 76 not out; Chirag Khurana 3/106, Md Nafees 2/48).
Kerala lead by 306 runs.