Karnataka tighten grip on Ranji tie
 
PTI

Bangalore, Jan 3:  Hosts Karnataka tightened their grip on the Ranji Trophy Super League match as Tamil Nadu, needing 276 to avoid a follow on, ended day two at 119 for four.

Earlier, Karnataka resuming at their overnight score of 309 for six, were all out for 426.

The reliable Hemang Badani's wicket with just three balls to go for stumps, gave Karnataka the upperhand. Opener M Vijay was batting on a dogged 48.

Debutant Gaurav Dhiman provided Karnataka the perfect start, his direct hit from mid-off sending S Anirudha back to the pavilion in the very first over.

Vijay and one-down R Prasanna (39) put on 77 runs for the second wicket before the latter edged K P Apanna to Rowland Barrington at short leg.

Seasoned left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi then trapped skipper S Badrinath leg before in the 34th over before the hosts tasted another success through off spinner C Raghu with the wicket of Badani (14).

In the morning, Sunil Joshi went quickly, but Karnataka skipper Yere Goud, unbeaten on 58 overnight, added 99 runs for the eighth wicket with B Akhil before being bowled by medium-pacer Ganapathy for 85.

Yere Goud's knock came off 249 balls with 15 fours while Akhil's breezy 73 came off 101 balls with 13 hits to the fence.

Ganapathy (3-61) and off-spinner R Ashwin (3-89) were the most successful bowlers for the visitors.
 

Andhra suffers follow-on threat against Delhi

UNI
 
Vijayawada: Hosts Andhra were fighting with their back to the wall to avoid follow-on and were 92 for four at stumps on the second day in reply to Delhi's first innings total of 355 in the super-league Ranji Trophy Elite-A Group match played against Delhi here today.

After bowling out Delhi for the addition of 98 runs to their overnight score of 257 for 5, with Mayank Tehlan scoring a brillant ton of 109 for his side, which was the highlight of the day, while Aditya Jain scored 72, which boosted the visitor's total. Andhra replied abysmally, losing four wickets for 45 runs.

At the end of the day's play, L N Prasad Reddy and R V C Prasad were at the crease with 35 and 29 respectively. Prasad Reddy had a partnership of 47 runs with Prasad for the fifth wicket.

The 6'4'' Delhi medium-pacer Ishant Sharma, who missed the bus to South Africa to join the Indian team at the last minute, was the most successful bowler, claiming two wickets in 12 overs by giving 25 runs.

Rajat Bhatia and Amit Bhandari claimed a wicket each giving one run in his six overs and the latter gave 25 runs in his nine overs.

Andhra still needs 114 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Bengal in dire straits
PTI

Bengal were 172 for seven in reply to Hyderabad's first innings score of 309 at close on the second day of the four-day Elite division group B Ranji Trophy match on Wednesday.

Hyderabad, resuming at 258 for six, folded up on 309 as Ranadeb Bose ripped through the tail claiming three wickets.

Overnight batsman Arjun Yadav after adding six runs to his previous day's score of 79, was dismissed by Saurav Sarkar, playing his second match, early in the day.

Speedster P K Reddy hit a breezy unbeaten 32 off 56 balls with four fours to see the team reach the 300-mark.

Bengal innings started on a shaky note with youngsters Pragnyan Ojha and Absolem striking early dismissing the first three batsmen for just 44 runs.

Rohan Gavaskar and Manoj Tiwary stabilised the innings, adding 44 runs for the fourth wicket but Tiwary fell to a slower delivery for 31 which came from 47 balls with five hits to the fence.

Gavaskar and skipper Deepdas Gupta tried to make some amends but the former snicked a rising delivery off Absolem into the hands of wicket keeper Ibrahim Khaleel after a well made 66 which includes ten hits to the fence.

A Dinda on 26 and S Sarkar on 1 were at crease at stumps for Bengal, who have a deficit of 137 runs with three wickets in hand.

Speedster P K Reddy, spinners Absolem and P Ojha claimed two wickets apiece for Hyderabad.