Bangalore/New Delhi: Karnataka were in command against Uttar Pradesh while Punjab took a slender lead despite a valiant century by Jammu and Kashmir skipper Parvez Rasool on the second day of the Raji Trophy cricket quarterfinals Thursday.
At the Motibagh Stadium in Vadodara, a day after skipper Harbhajan Singh rescued Punjab with a fighting 92, it was time for Rasool to shine with the bat. Rasool struck 103 as Jammu and Kashmir scored 277 all out in the first innings in reply to Punjab's 304. At stumps, Punjab were precariously placed at 15/2 -- a lead of 42 runs with eight wickets in hand.
At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Uttar Pradesh capitalised on dropped catches and sloppy fielding as Parvinder Singh (92, 181b, 13x4) and Piyush Chawla (56, 99b, 5x4) put on 110 runs for the seventh wicket to help the visitors reach 221 for nine against Karnataka at the end of second day's play in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final match here Thursday.
Karnataka, resuming at their overnight score of 297 for five, were dismissed for 349 with C.M. Gautam completing his century (100, 118b, 16x4) before becoming one of seamer Amit Mishra's six victims.
In reply, Uttar Pradesh were struggling on 65 for six before Parvinder and Chawla came up with the rescue act.
For Karnataka, pacer Abhimanyu Mithun came away with four for 70, but left the field for a brief while during his 18th over, but returned soon after medical treatment.
Chawla, dropped early in his patient knock, eventually fell to Mithun, edging to wicket-keeper C.M. Gautam who made no mistake.
In the last over of the day, Parvinder was dismissed when centurion Robin Uthappa, bowling gentle seamers, induced a snick to Gautam, who had dropped two catches earlier.
The home team all but let Uttar Pradesh off the hook. Both Parvinder and Chawla prospered due to a series of dropped catches, a stumping chance and generally wayward fielding, but the visitors finished the day still 128 runs in arrears.
Skipper Vinay Kumar, who started the rout, picked up three wickets while the other new ball bowler Sharath HS took one in the 10 overs that he bowled before leaving the field with an injury while fielding.
Brief scores:
At Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore: Karnataka 349 all out (Robin Uthappa 100, Karun Nair 100; Amit Mishra 6/106) vs Uttar Pradesh 221/9 in first innings (Parvinder Singh 92, Piyush Chawla 56; R Vinay Kumar 3/49, Abhimanyu Mithun 4/70).
At the Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara: Punjab 304 all out in first innings (Harbhajan Singh 92, Sandeep Sharma 52; Ram Dayal 3/59, Umar Nazir Mir 4-66) and 15/2 vs. Jammu and Kashmir 277 all out in first innings (Parvez Rasool 103, Adil Rishi 65; Sandeep Sharma 4/46).
At the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai: Mumbai 402 all out in first innings (Suryakumar Yadav 120, Vinit Indulkar 82; Samad Fallah 4/103) vs. Maharashtra 219/7 in first innings (Ankit Bawne 84, Kedar Jadhav 51; Shardul Thakur 4/62).
At the Eden Gardens, Kolkata: Bengal 317 all out in first innings (Sudip Chatterjee 96, Abhimanyu Easwaran 65, Wriddhiman 87; Anureet Singh 4/88) vs. Railways 233/5 in first innings (Mahesh Rawat 105 batting, Arindam Ghosh 78 batting; Ashok Dinda 3/83).
