Ranji Trophy: Robin Uthappa ton puts Karnataka on top against Jammu and Kashmir

Robin Uthappa posted his 16^th first-class century to give Karnataka a resounding lead

Hubli (Karnataka): Robin Uthappa slammed a brilliant 156 (202b, 23b, 1x6) as defending champions Karnataka took command of their Group A Ranji Trophy league match against Jammu and Kashmir who, trailing by 243 runs in the first innings, were 37 for one in their second essay at close of play on the second day, here Tuesday.

Uthappa, having relinquished his opener's role for No.5 spot in the batting order, held the innings together as Karnataka, overnight 123 for five in reply to the visitors' 160, declared at 423 for nine effectively taking a match-winning lead.

Uthappa, who resumed on 37, played the role of sheet-anchor to near perfection while enjoying slices of luck as he was dropped twice when on 63 and 135. Jammu and Kashmir paid dearly for the lapses.

Along with his overnight partner C.M. Gautam (80, 135b, 15x4), Uthappa added 177 runs for the sixth wicket to help Karnataka recover from 83 for five and take the game away from the visitors.

After Gautam's exit, Uthappa found another able partner in young Shreyas Gopal (58 not out, 108b, 7x4) and the pair put on 88 runs for the seventh wicket to ensure a sizeable lead for Karnataka who appear poised to notch their fourth consecutive win this season.

The home team's tail wagged a bit more as 75 runs were added for the last three wickets before skipper Vinay Kumar declared the innings.

Brief scores

Jammu and Kashmir 160 all out and 37 for 1 in 12 overs (Adil Reshi 23 not out) vs Karnataka (1st innings): 423 for 9 decl in 103 overs (Manish Pandey 33, Robin Uthappa 156, CM Gautam 80, Shreyas Gopal 58 not out, Ram Dayal 3 for 63, Umar Nazir 2 for 80, Mohammed Mudhasir 4 for 99).

At Vizianagaram, Andhra vs Jharkhand, Jharkhand 1st innings 246 all out (Prakash Munda 63; CV Stephen 3/52, Duvvarapu Shivkumar 2/56) Andhra 1st innings 179 for four (Murumulla Sriram 71; Ashish Kumar 2/53).

At Guwahati, Assam vs Services, Services 1st innings 113 all out (Nakul Sharma 32; Arup Das 5/40, Krishna Das 3/21) Assam 1st innings 211 for eight (Sibsankar Roy 81; Yashpal Singh 2/42, Saurabh Karmar 2/42).

At Kolkata, Bengal vs Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu 1st innings 246 all out(Dinesh Karthik 92, Ramaswamy Prasanna 50 retired hurt; Ashok Dinda 4/76) Bengal 1st innings 183 for two ( Manoj Tiwary 54 not out, Arindam Das 48).

At Rohtak, Haryana vs Delhi, Delhi 1st innings 278 all out(Virender Sehwag 147, Rajat Bhatia 72; Mohit Sharma 4/46, Joginder Sharma 3/39)Haryana 1st innings 188 all out ( Himanshu Rana 80; Varoon Sood 3/20, Sumit Narwal 3/43) Delhi 2nd innings 7 for no loss.

At Dharamsala, Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh, Kerala 1st innings 196 all out(Raiphi Gomez 32; Rishi Dhawan 5/46, Bipul Sharma 3/37) Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 287 for six (Paras Dogra 115; Nizar Niyas 2/47).

At Mumbai, Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai 1st innings 404 all out (Suryakumar Yadav 135, Akhil Herwadkar 97; Puneet Datey 3/76, Yogesh Rawat 5/74) Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 221 for three ( Jalaj Saxena 85, Naman Ojha 60 not out).

At Sambalpur, Odisha vs Vidarbha, 1st day no play, 2nd day Vidarbha 1st innings 129 for four (Ganesh Satish 62not out; Basant Mohanty 2/29).

At Jaipur, Rajasthan vs Punjab, Rajasthan 1st innings 433 all out (Pranay Sharma 118, Puneet Yadav 90; Sarabjit Ladda 4/104) Punjab 1st innings 140 for five (Gurkeerat Singh 70; Pankaj Singh 3/56).

At Rajkot, Saurashtra vs Maharastra, Maharastra 1st innings 519 all out (Ankit Bawne 124,Rohit Motwani 70; Kamlesh Makvana 5/120) Saurashtra 1st innings 94 for three ( Sheldon Jackson 57).

At Agartala, Tripura vs Hyderabad, Tripura 1st innings 184 all out (Kaushal Acharjee 55; Anwar Ahmed 5/53, Chama Milind 3/56) Hyderabad 1st innings 487 for nine (Akshath Reddy 174, Dwarka Ravi Teja 96 not out; Tushar Saha 3/106, Manisankar Murasingh 3/110).

At Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh vs Baroda, Baroda 1st innings 498 all out (Kedar Devdhar 146,Irfan Pathan 98 ; Piyush Chawla 3/100, Ali Murtaza 4/103) Uttar Pradesh 1st innings 103 for one( Tanmay Srivastava 69).