A round up of the second day's action of the Ranji Trophy Super League matches on Monday.
Saurashtra pile up 643 for 4 vs Mumbai
Cheteshwar Pujara's third consecutive hundred helped Saurashtra pile up 643 runs for the loss of four wickets on the second day against Mumbai at Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot.
Resuming at overnight 285 for one, Saurashtra lost Chirag Pathak in the morning session. Pathak made 170, spent 448 minutes at the crease faced 335 balls with 17 fours and two sixes.
Departure of Pathak brought the in-form Pujara at the crease and he did not waste time to get settled and started attacking mercilessly before completing his third consecutive century in as many innings.
Pujara, who had 302 not out against Orissa and 189 against Punjab, took 119 balls to complete his ton and became more aggressive after reaching the three digit as he took just 30 balls to score another fifty runs.
He, however, was bowled by leg spiner Sairaj Bahutule while trying to play an ambitious shots when he was on 176.
Bahutule, who was bowling outside the leg stumps to check the run flow, finally got the reward when Pujara tried to lift him over long on but missed it to tally and was bowled.
Pujara spent 176 minutes at the middle hitting 21 fours and two sixes off 173 balls knock.
While Kotak's patient 78 came off 213 balls with seven fours. The duo added 179 runs for the fourth wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 42 and skipper Jaydev Shah was on 25 when stumps were drawn for the day.
For Mumbai, Usman Malvi took two wickets conceding 122 runs while Sairaj Bahutule got a wicket for 153.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 643 for four (Cheteshwar Pujara 176, Chirag Pathak 170, Shitanshu Kotak 78) vs Mumbai
Debutants help Delhi reach 199 for 6
Debutant duo of Guarav Chabra and Yogesh Nagar rescued Delhi after its top order collapsed on the second day of Group A match against Gujarat at Sardar Patel Stadium in Valsad.
At stumps, Delhi were 199 for six after Gujarat folded their first innings at 350, adding 40 runs to Sunday's total.
Nagar at 40 and Sumit Narwal at 16 were at the crease at the end of the day two of the four-day match.
A brilliant 63 by Chabra and an unbeaten 40 by Nagar were the saving grace for the visitors.
Delhi started off shakily with opener Shikhar Dhawan out for a duck off Siddarth Trivedi. Punit Bist was next to go, out leg before off Mohnish Parmar after scoring 28 off 51 balls.
Skipper Aakash Chopra (19) and Mithun Manhas (11) too got out cheaply, with the scoreboard showing 63/4.
Chabra then put up a useful 43-run partnership with Mayank Tehlan for the fifth wicket, before the latter was caught by P Panchal off Parmar for 17.
The most productive partnership for Delhi was between Nagar and Chabra, who added 56 runs for the sixth wicket.
Chabra was out leg before off Ashraf Makda after scoring 63 off 128 balls.
Brief scores: Gujarat 350 vs Delhi 199 for six (Gaurav Chabra 63).
Mullick century propels Orissa to strong position against Punjab
A fine unbeaten hundred by Prabhanjan Mullick and his 143-run stand with stumper Haladhar Das (80) powered hosts Orissa to a strong position against Punjab on the second day of their Group A match at the Railway Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
After dismissing the visitors for a paltry 60 in their first innings on Sunday, Orissa established a huge 292-run lead before being bowled out for 352 on Monday.
Resuming at their overnight 148 for five, Orissa progressed to 186 this morning before Pinniti Jayachandra edged leg spinner Sarabjit Singh to wicket-keeper Pankaj Dharmani for 17.
Mullick, who had been recalled to the team after being dropped, then frustrated Punjab as he and Haladhar Das consolidated Orissa's position.
The former Orissa skipper reached exactly 100 in the company of last man Dhiraj Singh who batted for 41 minutes before losing his wicket. Mullick kept vigil for 303 minutes and hit eleven fours.
At draw of stumps, Punjab were 59 for one in their second innings with Ravi Inder Singh batting on a strokeful 35.
Brief scores: Punjab 60 and 59 for one (Ravi Inder Singh 35 not out) vs Orissa 353 (Prabhanjan Mullick 100 not out, Haladhar Das 80, Niranjan Behera 74, Subit Biswal 54, Gagandeep Singh 4 for 45).
Shukla guides UP to 290 for 6 against Maharashtra
Opener Shivakant Shukla struck a patient hundred besides sharing a 137-run partnership with Parvindar Singh to guide Uttar Pradesh to 290 for 6 in their first innings of their Elite Group B match against Maharashtra in Kanpur.
UP, at close, achieved a significant lead of 69 runs with four wickets still in hand.
Shivakant's 131-run knock was his second three-figure innings in Ranji Trophy. His earlier ton was against Hyderabad in the year 2005-06 at Lucknow.
At close, Bhuveshwar and RP Singh were playing on 28 and 9 respectively.
Earlier in the morning, Shivakant and Parvindar Singh resumed UP's first innings from overnight score 86 for 1. Both the batsmen played with straight bat and added another 63 runs in their association.
Brief scores: Maharashtra 221 vs Uttar Pradesh 290 for six (Shivakant Shukla 131).
Karnataka pile up 347 for seven against Baroda
Rahul Dravid played out a crucial 83-run knock before Sunil Joshi and Tilak Naidu put on a 103-run stand for the sixth wicket to help Karnatka pile up 347 for seven of their Elite Group "B" match against Baroda.
Resuming at the overnight total of 63 runs for the loss of three wickets, Dravid, V S Tilak Naidu (90), Sunil Joshi (55) defied the Baroda bowling attack.
Dravid hit 11 boundaries and a six during his 177 minute stay at the crease, facing 117 balls. He was also involved in a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Naidu.
Naidu, who was unlucky to miss his century, scored 90 runs, with the help of seven fours and a six. Joshi was harsh on the Baroda bowlers as he hammered six towering sixes in his 55 runs.
B Akhil with 42 and Sunil Raju on 15 were at the crease at draw of stumps.
Brief scores: Baroda 169 vs Karnataka 347 for seven (Tilak Naidu 90, Rahul Dravid 83, Ajitesh Agarwal 4 for 78).
Railways look to overtake Andhra
Sanjib Sanyal's sedate 70 and Raja Ali's gritty 39 saw Railways equal Andhra's first innings total of 208 at the end of second day's play in New Delhi.
Resuming on eight for one, Railways lost two quick wickets to find themselves reeling at 16 for three before Sanjib bailed out the side with a 148-ball 70 that included eight hits to the fence.
Railways survived another mini collapse when Yere Goud (13) and Sanjib perished in the same over. However, down the order, Raja Ali, chipped in with a gutsy cameo to keep Railways on course for a crucial first innings lead.
At close, Murali Kartik was batting on 18 in company of Kulamani Parida (4).
Brief scores: Andhra 208 vs Railways 208 for eight (Sanjib Sanyal 70).
Laxman double ton guides Hyderabad to mammoth total
A stupendous double century by the stylish India middle order bat VVS Laxman (224) and an unbeaten 100 by Ahmed Quadri helped Hyderabad pile up a mammoth 553 for six declared against Rajasthan.
Laxman's knock came off 360 deliveries in 524 minutes and had 24 boundaries in it. And curtains came down on his superb innings when he was caught by Rajasthan captain Venugopal Rao off the bowling of Sumit Mathur.
Resuming at overnight score of 273 for three, Hyderabad lost the wicket of night-watchman N Arjun Yadav who returned to the pavilion without making any addition to his Sunday's score of six.
However, the hosts' aggregate kept on piling up as Laxman was on song and the youthful Quadri too joined him. Facing 198 balls, Quadri hit seven fours in his impressive innings that lasted for 252 minutes.
Among Rajasthan bowlers, Pankaj Singh and Sumit Mathur claimed two wickets each, while Sailendra Gehlot and Gajendra Singh took one wicket each.
In reply, Rajasthan were 25 for no loss with Vineet Saxena and Gagan Khoda batting at 13 and 12 respectively when the stumps were drawn for the day.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 553 for six declared (VVS Laxman 224, Ahmed Quadri 100 not out) vs Rajasthan 25 for no loss.
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