Martin, Williams put Baroda in command

Captain Jacob Martin and Connor Williams registered a 245-run partnership for the third wicket to enable Baroda take a vital 37-run lead over Hyderabad on the second day of the five-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final at the GSFC ground in Baroda on Wednesday.

At close of play, the hosts were comfortably placed at 327 for three in reply to Hyderabad's first innings score of 290 runs.

Resuming at their overnight score of 20 without loss, Baroda began their innings on a fluent note with skipper Martin and southpaw Williams looking in good touch.

Both took the Hyderabad bowlers to task and added 245 runs for the third wicket before Williams departed after a well-made 157 studded with 22 boundaries and a huge six, just eight minutes before close of day's play.

Martin (116) and Valmik Buch (10) were the not out batsmen at draw of stumps.

Hyderabad skipper Laxman tried seven bowlers to stop the Baroda run flow but in vain.

The only successful bowlers for Hyderabad were N P Singh, S Vishnu Vardhan and D Vinay Kumar, who claimed one wicket each.

Vineet, Harbhajan put Punjab on top

Medium pacer Vineet Sharma and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh ran through the Orissa batting line-up as Punjab took a firm grip on the five-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Mohali on Wednesday.

Sharma claimed six wickets for 59 runs and Harbhajan took the remaining four to restrict Orissa to 200 in their first innings, despite a fighting 99-run knock from Prabhajan Mullick, who became the second player in this match to be dismissed one run short of his century.

Punjab, who had scored 207 in their first innings, took a vital seven-run lead and were comfortably placed at 127 for one in their second knock when stumps were drawn on the second day today.

Opener Munish Sharma, who had also missed his hundred by just one run in the first ininings, was batting on 73 and Yuvraj Singh was on 34 at the end of day's play.

Orissa's overnight batsmen Mullick and Sanjay Raul began the day well after the team resumed at 49 for three. The two took the score to 118, adding 78-runs for the fourth wicket, before the slide started when Harbhajan dismissed Raul for 23.

Wickets fell at regular intervals after that and the only other substantial partnership was that for the eighth wicket between Mullick and Debasish Mohanty. The pair put on 49 runs with Mohanty contributing only four.

Tamil Nadu bowlers hit back against Railways

Tamil Nadu's bowlers made amends for the mediocre performance by their batsmen and fought their way back on the second day of the five-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Railways in Delhi on Wednesday.

Medium pacer L Balaji, the find of the season for Tamil Nadu, grabbed two wickets in as many balls to cause a Railway middle order collapse as they huffed and puffed to 179 for the loss of five wickets at stumps, thanks to a patient unbeaten 78 by Sanjay Bangar.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 215 for seven, Tamil Nadu tailenders exhibited tremendous grit to post a fighting 276.

The Southern superpower lost overnight not out batsman M R Shrinivas early in the day (13) as he nicked an away going delivery from Harvinder (4/66) to Sudhir Wankhede behind the stumps.

Tamil Nadu lost their ninth wicket with the addition of just four runs as J P Yadav induced a thick edge from T R Arasau (46), the other overnight not out batsman, which was neatly taken at slips by substitute Shreyas Khanolkar.

At the end, R Ramkumar (25) played a sweet little cameo before edging Kulamani Parida to Amit Pagnis at silly point.

Railways began their first innings on a shaky note as they lost in-form Pagnis when he holed out a simple return catch to Shrinivas off the very first ball he faced, much to the delight of the TN camp.

Gujarat comfortably placed at 161 for two

Opener Hem Jashipura and Kirat Damani struck unbeaten half centuries as Gujarat were comfortably placed at 161 for two in their first innings at close on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Replying to Bengal's first innings score of 353 all out, Gujarat lost opener Nilesh Modi (18) early but an unfinished 91-run third wicket parnership between Jashipura (63 not out) and Damani (50 not out) kept them on course for the vital first innings lead.

The two Gujarat batsmen seemed to be in no trouble at all as they played cautiously and accumulated most of their runs in singles and twos to remain undefeated when play was called off without the completion of 90 overs due to poor light.

The hosts had themselves to blame for not breaking the third wicket stand as Shabbir Ali dropped Jashipura on the fence before he had completed his half century while Damani was also lucky not to get run out towards the fag end of the day.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 277 for seven, the Bengal first innings stretched to 353 before ending, thanks to some lusty hitting by tail-ender Laxmi Ratan Shukla who remained not out on 52.

First day's hero Sanjib Sanyal, who resumed his innings on 109, could add just 14 more runs to his kitty before falling prey to off spinner Bhavin Mehta.

Day 1 round-up: Sanyal rallies Bangal; Laxman props Hyderabad

Mail Cricket Editor