India discard Robin Uthappa on Monday cracked his second century of the season to help Karnataka gain a 168-run lead after they declared their first innings at 400 for nine against Odisha on the third day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match. Trailing by 168 runs, Odisha were zero for one in their second innings when the umpires called off the day's play due to bad light. Nataraj Behera and first innings centurion Govinda Poddar were batting on zero as opener Rajesh Dhuper (0) lost his wicket to Vinay Kumar in the very first over of their second innings. [related-post] Karnataka, who registered their first outright win against Rajasthan in their previous match, would go for the second outright victory this season when they take the field on fourth and final day of the match on Tuesday. Uthappa smashed a sparkling 148 runs off 257 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes, and Karun Nair scored a useful 73 runs off 164 balls with six boundaries and a six. The duo stitched a 169-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which took the match away from the hands of Odisha. After Odisha succeeded in breaking Nair and Uthappa's partnership, the visitors did well to restrict the hosts by bagging six wickets for 103 runs, with slow-left-arm orthodox Dhiraj Singh (3/156) leading the fightback and ably supported by right-arm medium Suryakant Pradhan (3/94). Basant Mohanty and Biplab Samantaray claimed two and one wicket respectively. As Singh and Pradhan picked up wickets at regular intervals, lower-order batsmen including Chidamabarm Gautam (20), Stuart Binny (4) and Shreyas Gopal (13) failed to capitalise on Uthappa-Nair partnership. Resuming at 255 for three, Karnataka soon lost Nair after he added 21 runs to his overnight score of 52. Left-armer Singh had him caught by Pratik Das. Binny lasted for seven balls and was cleaned up by Samantaray after he scored four. Gautam was out for 20 as he became another victim of Singh. Gopal and Jagadeesha Suchith did not last long and fell to Pradhan and Singh rather quickly which prompted Vinay to declare the innings. Ojha's 7-wkt haul puts Bengal in drivers' seat A career-best seven-wicket haul by Pragyan Ojha kept Bengal in line for their first win of the season as they set Vidarbha an imposing 297-run target for a win in their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match. Having claimed his 23rd five-for yesterday, the left-arm spinner added two more to his tally today to return with his best figures of 7/58 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 202, conceding Bengal a handsome 132-run lead. Bengal were bowled out for 164 in their second essay which centered around skipper Manoj Tiwary's dogged 63 (127 balls; 8x4) in a strip with cracks and uneven bounce at the Jadavpur University second campus ground to set a tall target. For Vidarbha, Akshay Wakhare claimed 5/61 to return with a match haul of nine wickets. Brief Scores: Bengal: 334 and 164 in 62.5 overs (Manoj Tiwary 63; Wakhare 5/61) vs Vidarbha 202 in 69.1 overs (Faiz Fazal 63, Shrikant Wagh 60 not out; Pragyan Ojha 7/58) and three for no loss in 2 overs. Assam at doorstep of win over Haryana Young paceman Arup Das bettered his career-best figures with a six-wicket haul to take Assam close to an emphatic victory over Haryana in their Ranji Trophy Group A match. Assam, who had conceded a first innings lead of 48 runs, wrapped up Haryana's second innings at a mere 111 to set themselves a 160-run target. The visitors were 122 for four at the end of third day's play, just 38 runs away from an outright win. Haryana began the day at 15 for three and together with fellow paceman Krishan Das (4/48), Arup ripped apart Haryana batting line-up. Himanshu Rana was top scorer for them with a 27-run knock. Brief Scores: Haryana 168 and 111 (H Rana 27;A Das 6/39, K Das 4/48) Assam 120 and 122 for 4 in 38 overs.(KB A Karthik 48, Amit Verma 24 batting; A Hooda 2/53).
