Robin Uthappa and Karun Nair scored sublime fifties to put defending champions Karnataka in a commanding position against Railways on day three of the fog-hit Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match in Delhi on Tuesday. Railways, resuming the day at 106 for four, were all out for 171 against a high-quality Karnataka pace attack led by Sreenath Aravind (4/43) and Abhimanyu Mithun (3/53). The visitors had made 247 after opting to bat on a tricky surface. Karnataka were cruising in their second innings, thanks to an unbeaten 130-run stand between the stylish pair of Uthappa (70 runs off 105 balls) and Nair (61 off 98). The two remained unbeaten at stumps with Karnataka at 131 for one and leading by 207 runs. Karnataka are now assured of getting three points for securing the first-innings lead and will be going for their third win on the trot on Wednesday. The outcome will also depend on how the weather holds. Dense fog delayed the start of day's play for the third day in a row and action could only begin at 11.20 am. Soon sunshine made way for the hazy surroundings and after Karnataka dismissed the home team post lunch, their batsmen treated the sparse crowd at the Karnail Singh Stadium to some delightful stroke play. Uthappa and Nair made batting look easy on a deteriorating pitch. Both matched each other stroke for stroke, whether it were the delectable straight drive, the wristy flick or the punch through cover. Uthappa did no harm to his World Cup chances ahead of the selection early next month by hitting his third fifty in six innings so far in the season. His 105-ball effort comprised 10 boundaries. Nair was not far behind. He collected nine boundaries in his 98-ball knock and brought up his fifty with a straight six off left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav. With first-innings lead gained, Uthappa said Karnataka will be going for the kill. "We had discussed about the importance of partnerships before the innings began and I am glad Karun and I were able to contribute to that. 250 is a defendable score with the bowling line-up we have but we don't want to take our opposition lightly. So we will be happy giving them anything between 300-325 to chase," said Uthappa. However, a draw still looks to be the most likely outcome considering the prevailing weather. Brief scores: Karnataka 247 and 131/1 (Robin Uthappa 70 batting, Karun Nair 61 batting; Anureet Singh 1/43) Railways 171 (Anustup Majumdar 38, Abhishek Kaushik 59; Sreenath Aravind 4/43). Mumbai lower-order makes it count on Day 3 Just when all seemed lost for Mumbai, lower-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur fought back to give the visitors a vital first-innings lead against Uttar Pradesh on Day 3 of the Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match, in Kanpur on Tuesday. Starting the day on 48 for three in response to UP's 206 at Green Park in the four-day encounter, Mumbai were eight down for 173 before Iyer (75) and Thakur (87) stitched a 97-run ninth-wicket partnership to help the Suryakumar Yadav-led side gain lost ground. Iyer, who is primarily an off-spinner, and Thakur, Mumbai's pace spearhead, batted with purpose to register their maiden first-class half-centuries respectively. After Thakur departed, number-ten Kshemal Waingankar also fought it out with a brave 31 not out, laced with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 206 and 7/0 in 1 over (Mukul Dagar 7 not out, Prasanth Gupta 0 not out; Shardul Thakur 0-7) Mumbai 270 (Shreyas Iyer 75, Shardul Thakur 87; Amit Mishra 4-63, Praveen Kumar 3-77, Piyush CHawla 2-40). TN forced to follow on, MP in drivers seat Ankit Sharma and Jalaj Saxena displayed their all-round abilities as Madhya Pradesh put themselves at the drivers' seat by forcing Tamil to follow on in their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match on the third day in Chennai on Tuesday. At close on the penultimate day, Tamil Nadu were 152 for three in their second innings after following on. They were 248 all out in their first innings, yielding a 184-run lead to Madhya Pradesh whose captain Devendra Bundela did not have any hesitation to ask the home side to bat again. The last three days of the four-day match witnessed the home side being pushed to the wall after the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association management decided to provide a newly relaid track to help the home spinners. But, Madhya Pradesh batsmen, especially Saxena (144), Harpreet Singh (65), Bundela (104) and Ankit (62) took the sails out of the home side bowlers by posting 432 all out in their first innings. Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh: 432 Tamil Nadu: 248 all out in 83.1 (Ramaswamy Prasanna 74; Ankit Sharma 5/103, Jalaj Saxena 4/74) and 152/3 in 44 overs after f/o (Bharath Shankar 45, Abhinav Mukund 48; Ankit Sharma 2/73). J&K better placed for first innings lead despite Wakaskar ton Saurabh Wakaskar hit a fighting century hundred for Baroda but Jammu and Kashmir were better placed to take the crucial first innings lead on day three of the Ranji Trophy Group A match in Vadodara on Tuesday. In response to J&K's 497, Baroda were 370 for seven by stumps on the penultimate day. Wakaskar took the hosts closer to the J&K total with 172 off 286 balls. But the home team has a task at hand at getting another 127 runs to match J&K's total. Brief scores: Jammu and Kashmir 470. Baroda 370/7 (Saurabh Wakaskar 172; Umar Nazir 2/92, Samiullah Beigh 2/66).
