The Karnataka team had three players who racked up half-centuries in their second innings against Uttar Pradesh, among those Rahul Dravid, who made his way to a crisp unbeaten 51. KB Pawan (78) and Robin Uthappa (56) also built substantial knocks as Karnataka made things tougher for their opponents in this Super League Group B match. In reply to Karnataka’s first innings total of 405, UP began the day at 214 for eight and collapsed at 279, a total made possible by Amir Khan’s 61 and their number nine batsman Praveen Gupta, who stayed unbeaten on 55.

In their second innings, Karnataka scored 311 for five before Dravid declared the innings. Chasing an improbable target of 438 runs, UP lost opener Tanmay Srivastava (12) to reach 29 for one when stumps were drawn. Shivakant Shukla (10) and Ravikant Shukla (7) were at the crease with the hosts needing another 409 runs to win on the final day with nine wickets remaining.

Brief scores: Karnataka 405 & 311 for 5 (declared); Uttar Pradesh: 279 & 29/1

Tamil Nadu struggle despite Badrinath’s century

New Delhi: Subramanian Badrinath was anchoring the Tamil Nadu innings till the 127th over. Though the runs were coming slowly, it seemed to be a given that eventually the Dinesh Karthik-led side would go past Railways’ score of 327 runs to take three points. Instead, they find themselves in danger of conceding the lead, after having posted 312 for eight when stumps were drawn.

After losing Murali Vijay and Dinesh Kathik early, Badrinath chose patience over aggression to help his team take the first-innings lead. But it was evident that the idea had backfired as Tamil Nadu still required another 16 runs with two wickets in hand. Earlier, after Railways were told not to bowl Kulamani Parida, skipper Murali Kartik took the workload, bowling 32 overs overall. After seeing the back of Vijay early, Kartik struck again to dismiss R Ashwin, as they crawled their way back in the match.

... contd.