Chemplast took firm control on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Trophy semifinal against Hyderabad at the RSI Ground in Bangalore today after Badrinath and Jacob Martin piled on a 330-run stand for the third wicket. Chemplast declared at 436/4 and had Hyderabad struggling at 73/4 in their second innings. In the other semifinal at the Chinaswamy Stadium, India Pistons were in the ascendancy after posting a total of 357 in their first innings, a lead of 151. At close their opponents Indian Airlines were in grave trouble at 104/4.

Resuming at 85/2, Badrinath and Martin went on a run riot and when Martin was finally dislodged by Fatima Reddy in the 83rd over, he had progressed rapidly to 183 (213 balls, 16 fours, 2 sixes). Vasant Saravanan fell six runs later to the same bowler but Badrinath carried on in the company of Ajay Kudua until Chemplast decided to close up shop. Badrinath's undefeated 165 had taken 259 balls (16 fours and a six). In their second knock, Hyderabad, missing VVS Laxman who is playing for Indian Airlines in the other semifinal, stuttered to 73/4 by stumps. Medium pacer L Balaji added three more wickets to his first innings haul of four and Tinu Yohanan bagged the remaining scalp. Anirudh Singh on 32 and Santosh Yadav on 2 were at the wicket when play ended for the day.

In the other match, Pistons were bowled out for 357 in the 88th over, Vikram Rathour top scoring with 94 (132 balls, 7 fours, 1 six). He and Pankaj Dharmani extended their overnight stand for the third wicket to 112 before the latter was dismissed by left arm spinner Anup Dave for 52. Hemanth Kumar chipped in with 41 but it was R Sathish who gave the much needed impetus lower down with an aggressive 82 off 89 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes). For the bowling side, Subhash Chaudhry had the best figures with 3/60. In reply, Indian Airlines lost old hand Arun Kumar, captain Dahiya, and young lion Ricky with just 33 on the board. New ball bowlers Robin Singh and Gagandeep Singh shared the scalps between them. Laxman and Shafiq Khan then put on 68 before Airlines suffered a huge blow just before close when Laxman fell to Satyajit Medappa for 40.

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