Madhya Pradesh 341 (Himanshu Mantri 165; Mukesh Kumar 4-66) lead Bengal 197/5 (Manoj Tiwary 84*; Puneet Datey 2-34) by 144 runs.
Shahbaz Ahmed (72*) and Manoj Tiwary (84*) added an unbroken 143 for the sixth wicket to help Bengal recover to finish Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Alur on 197/5. They still trail Madhya Pradesh by 144 runs. Kumar Kartikeya (2-43) took out Abhishek Raman and Sudip Gharami before Bengal had scored a run. Abhimanyu Easwaran got 22, but Puneet Datey (2-34) struck, and Bengal were reduced to a precarious 54/5.
Earlier, Datey (33) helped Himanshu Mantri out on 64 for the seventh wicket before Mukesh Kumar (4-66) and Shahbaz (3-86) bowled out MP for 341. Mantri was eighth out, for 165 – his maiden First-class hundred.
Mumbai 393 (Hardik Tamore 115, Yashasvi Jaiswal 100; Karan Sharma 4-46) lead Uttar Pradesh 25/2 (Madhav Kaushik 11*; Tushar Deshpande 1-10) by 368 runs.
Rains delayed start of play on Day 2 in Bengaluru. Resuming on 260/5, Mumbai reached 393 in the first innings, largely due to wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore's career-best innings of 115. Tamore added 113 for the sixth wicket with Shams Mulani (50) and another 40 for the seventh, with Tanush Kotian (22). However, Karan Sharma (4-46) and Saurabh Kumar (3-107) wrapped things up quickly after that. Tamore was last out, caught behind off Saurabh.
There was enough time left in the day for Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande to snare Samarth Singh and Priyam Garg respectively. UP finished Day 2 on 25/2; they still trail by 368 runs.