Bengal's batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts to leave their team in a poor position against Railways at the end of the second day of the elite group encounter between the two sides at Siliguri. Twenty-one-year Subhomoy Das was the top-scorer with a patient unbeaten 37 as Bengal ended the day at 173-8, still 73 behind the Railways' first innings score of 246.

Medium-pacer Santosh Saxena and off-spinner Kulamani Parida, who claimed three wickets each, were the men who prevented the Bengal first innings from taking off. With two day's play remaining, Railways will now be looking to push on for their first outright win in this year's competition.

At the Feroz Shah Kotla, centuries from openers Akash Chopra (105) and Gautam Gambhir (109*) put Delhi in a commanding position against Himachal Pradesh. After dismissing the visitors for 244, the hosts reached 240-1 in reply. Pradeep Chawla on eight was keeping Gambhir company. New-ball bowler Amit Bhandari, who had claimed five Himachal Pradesh wickets earlier, was the other star performer for the hosts.

At Jaipur, an unbeaten century from Nikhil Doru helped Rajasthan gain a 120-run first innings lead against Hyderabad with three wickets remainining. Lower-order bat Sanjeev Sharma, who made a career-best 76, was the other major contributor in the Rajasthan first innings of 332-7.

At Chennai, an unbeaten 76 from wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik helped hosts Tamil Nadu to recover to 238-9 against Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, veteran medium-pacer Ashish Winston Zaidi's early three-wicket burst - he claimed two more wickets by the end of the day - had led to Tamil Nadu being reduced to 106-5 when Karthik walked in. But the 17-year-old, playing in only his second Ranji Trophy match, refused to be hustled, smashing 12 fours in his 134-ball knock. Thanks to his efforts, the hosts still had an outside chance of overhauling the Uttar Pradesh's total of 304.

At Cuttack, Baroda gained a massive 276 runs first innings lead against hosts Orissa. Resuming on 278/3, Baroda went on to make 407 in their first innings before being dismissed. Satyajit Parab, who began the day on 116, made 141 before he fell to Debasis Mohanty. Mohanty, who claimed four wickets in all, was the most successful bowler for the hosts.

When Orissa replied, they found left-arm quick Irfan Pathan too hot to handle. The 18-year-old snared six wickets as Orissa crumbled to 131 all out. Forced to follow-on, Orissa were 31-2 and in danger of succumbing to an innings defeat.

At Guwahati, hosts Assam managed to eke out a 53-run first innings lead against Punjab. Kiran Powar, who made 47, was the top-scorer for the hosts who ended up with 230. For Punjab, left-arm quick Amit Uniyal claimed five wickets. Punjab had managed to wipe out the lead and gain a nine-run overall lead with eight second innings wickets in hand when play was called off. Pankaj Dharmani (34*) and Ankur Kakkar (7*) were the two not out batsmen.

Rowland, Naidu put Karnataka in command

Barrington Rowland made an unbeaten 237 and Thilak Naidu an unbeaten 167 as Karnataka dominated the second day's play against Jammu and Kashmir at Bangalore. The duo's unbroken 281-run fourth wicket partnership helped the hosts pile on an imposing 598-3 in their first innings. Faced with the daunting task of scoring 448 to avoid the follow-on, Jammu and Kashmir made a scratchy start, reaching 77-3 by the end of day's play. With two days' play remaining, Karnataka now would be hoping to complete an outright win.

At Rohtak, the Maharasthra bowlers fought back after their team was dismissed for 298 against Haryana. With Ranjit Khirid claiming three wickets and Mandar Sane ending up with two, the visitors reduced Haryana to 166-6. Shafiq Khan, who made an unbeaten 81 to end up as the innings top-scorer, though, still remains in their way.

At Kochi, opener Sujith Somasunder completed a double-hundred, making 222, while Ajay Kudua, made 130 as Kerala posted 457 in their first innings against Tripura. The visitors were 60-1 in reply when play was called off.

At Nagpur, a 71-run last wicket partnership between Shadab Jakati (74*) and Faisal Shaikh (20*) kept Goa in the running for the first-innings lead against Vidarbha. The duo's efforts saw the visitors reach 255-6 in reply to Vidarbha's 336. Earlier, Shaikh had claimed 8-111, bowling his off-spinners, to restrict Vidarbha.

At Indore, Madhya Pradesh were well and truly on course for an outright win against Bihar. The hosts, who made 379, dismissed, Bihar for 140 in their first innings. Forced to follow-on, the visitors were 42-2 when play was called off. Only captain Rajiv Kumar, who made 63, was able to mount a resistance against the guiles of leg-spinners Narendra Hirwani (4-38) and Yogesh Golwalkar (3-29) in the first innings. Later, Golwalkar also went on to claim both the Bihar second innings wickets.

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