Speedster Lalit Patel took five for 72 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, to somewhat take the sheen off Tamil Nadu's first-innings advantage in their Ranji Trophy elite group match against Gujarat on Sunday.

Well-placed at the beginning of the day at 100 for one, Tamil Nadu found themselves bowled out for only 260. Their usually consistent middle order came apart against Patel and the rest of Gujarat's bowlers, and barring the openers, only one other batsman - Hemang Badani with 31 - crossed the 30-run mark.

But that was still a lead of 99 runs, and when Lakshmipathy Balaji again shone to take three for 45 off 10 overs, Tamil Nadu looked firmly in control. At one stage teetering at 45 for five, Gujarat scraped their way to 130 for six at the close of the second day's play, with skipper MH Parmar unbeaten on 47.

Shakti Singh scalps six against Hyderabad

Taking six for 75 in 34.5 overs, Shakti Singh put the brakes on Hyderabad's first innings, helping Himachal Pradesh bowl their opponents out for 262 - made painstakingly over 104.5 overs - in their Ranji Trophy elite group tie at Una.

Top-scoring for Hyderabad, Arjun Yadav was the sole focus of resistance from Hyderabad, his 72 runs coming off 253 balls. Yadav remained unbeaten, and apart from Daniel Manohar's 62, no other batsman looked like staying at the crease. In reply, Himachal were at 64 for two at stumps.

Uttar Pradesh in trouble against Orissa

A classy century from opener Sukhbinder Singh gave Orissa the edge in their Ranji Trophy elite group encounter against Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow on Sunday.

Unbeaten overnight on 70, Sukhbinder duly added 32 runs to his score before falling as one of Ashish Winston Zaidi's six wickets. That effort helped Orissa to a score of 245 - one that looked remote when they were 169 for six on the first day.

Uttar Pradesh faltered in the face of this modest total. R Shamshad hit 82 before falling to Pravanjan Mullick, but few other batsmen could play an innings of note. Nikhil Chopra and Javed Anwar rescued them in part towards the end of the day, taking their side from 130 for five to 162 for five by stumps.

Assam face humiliating defeat at Vadodara

Reeling at 88 for seven by the end of the second day's play against Baroda at Vadodara, Assam were in real danger of losing the match as early as the morning of the third day.

Resuming at 131 for three, Baroda reached 237, a lead of 49 runs in the first innings. It did not look nearly enough until Assam started batting again and collapsed in a hurry from a reasonable 53 for no loss. Seven wickets fell for the addition of just 35 runs, with Tushar Arothe taking three for 20 as the pick of Baroda's bowlers.

Rajasthan have mammoth task in hand

When Delhi completed their first innings, they led Rajasthan by a massive 235 runs, and although Rajasthan wiped off 46 of that deficit by the close of the second day's play, they still have much work to do in this Ranji Trophy match at Delhi.

Starring for Delhi, Mithun Manhas made 101 off just 131 balls, striking 11 fours in his knock. Skipper Vijay Dahiya contributed his mite with 74, and these two knocks in large part helped the hosts to 380 in their first innings. At the close of play, Rajasthan were 46 for no loss.

Railways respond strongly to Andhra Pradesh's 371

As befitting the Ranji Trophy champions, Railways made a strong start in response to Andhra Pradesh's first-innings total of 371 at Vijayawada, reaching 91 for no loss by stumps.

Tragically falling three runs short of his fourth first-class hundred, IG Srinivas ground out 97 off 235 balls with 12 fours. His knock held the AP essay together and was responsible for his side's good first-innings performance. In reply, Railways were 91 for no loss, with Jai P Yadav's 62 off just 77 balls (6x4, 2x6) leading the charge.

Jammu & Kashmir face almost-certain innings defeat

The second day of Jammu & Kashmir's Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh at Indore could not have gone worse for the visitors, and they face a humiliating defeat on the third and fourth days of the tie.

Already at a strong 350 for three overnight, Madhya Pradesh declared at 562 for seven. Apart from opener SM Dholpure's 131 and Amay Khurasiya's 108, Devendra Bundela hit 102 off 170 balls with 17 fours and one six. S Abbas Ali's 48, NA Patwardhan's 54 and B Tomar's 41 further strengthened the hosts' position.

Leggie Narendra Hirwani then ran through Jammu & Kashmir to take five for 51, and the visitors were bowled out in just 36.5 overs for 122. Following on, they were 11 for no loss at stumps.

Dodda Ganesh shatters Haryana first innings

Scalping seven for 36 off 15 overs, medium-pacer Dodda Ganesh virtually destroyed Haryana's batting line-up on his own in Karnataka's Ranji Trophy tie against Haryana at Faridabad.

After Karnataka reached 372, spurred by Sunil Joshi's lower-order 84 off 121 balls (11x4, 2x6), Haryana were bowled out for just 147 in their first innings, conceding a lead of 225. Aiding and abetting Ganesh was Joshi, who took two for 38 in 21 overs.

CM Deepak century leads Kerala reply

After leggie KM Ananthapadmanabhan took six for 45 to end Vidarbha's innings at 303, Kerala responded strongly by reaching 275 for five by the close of the second day's play at Nagpur.

Kerala's opening batsmen put on 128 for the first wicket before Sujith Somasunder was dismissed for 50. CM Deepak went on to hit up a century, making 116 off 200 balls with 16 fours and one six. Minor but significant scores in the middle order led Kerala to 275 for five, trailing by only 28 runs with five wickets in hand.

Faisal Shaikh rips through Services

It was only the second five-wicket haul of his career, but what a five-wicket haul it was! Off-spinner Faisal Shaikh tempted, teased and tortured the Services batsmen in their Ranji tie against Goa at Delhi to take nine for 29 off 20.4 overs.

Only S Verma fell to a bowler other than Shaikh; all of the remaining, including top-scorer Aravind Kumar, were dismissed by the off-spinner, and Services were bowled out for only 119 in response to Goa's 278.

Following on, Services were 47 for no loss, with Goa inexplicably using as many as seven bowlers to send down the 15 overs that remained before stumps.

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