Ranji: Rahul, Gopal lift Karnataka, Odisha dismiss Punjab for 167

Lokesh Rahul's unbeaten 150 and his unbroken fifth wicket 178-run partnership with Shreyas Gopal (88 not out) Thursday lifted Karnataka to 326 for four on the first day of their Ranji Trophy league match against Uttar Pradesh, while Odisha bowled Punjab out for 167 in the first innings.

After being put into bat first, defending champions Karnataka were struggling at 148 for four before opener Rahul, who recently marked his Test series debut in Australia with a century, underlined his form with yet another tall score to rescue his team in the company of Gopal at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Visiting skipper Praveen Kumar had earlier cut through the Karnataka top order with a three-wicket burst to justify his decision to bowl after winning the toss.

After opener R. Samarth (18) fell to Praveen, Robin Uthappa (40) and Rahul added 80 runs for the second wicket when the former flicked Ali Murtaza straight to mid-wicket where Parvinder Singh accepted the catch.

A brief recovery followed as Manish Pandey (20) and Rahul put on 39 runs for the third wicket when Praveen came up with a double strike to have Karnataka on the mat.

Praveen had Pandey caught at short midwicket and then bowled Karun Nair (0) in the space of four deliveries as Karnataka slid to 148 for four.

However, Rahul and Gopal got together in a rescue act to deny Uttar Pradesh bowlers further success as the hosts finished the day in a far better position.

Rahul hit 22 fours and a six in 256 deliveries he faced during his 15o-run knock.

At the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali, pacers Basant Mohanty (four for 43) and Deepak Behera (four for 47) ripped through the Punjab batting line-up as they made most of a lively wicket. They also got good support from Alok Mangaraj, who took two wickets for 50 runs.

In reply, Odisha were 54 for one at stuumps.

Brief scores:

At Bangalore, Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka 1st innings 326 for four (Lokesh Rahul 150 not out, Shreyas Gopal 88; Praveen Kumar 3/24).

At Mohali, Punjab vs Odisha, Punjab 1st innings 167 all out (Manpreet Gony 51 not out; Basant Mohanty 4/43, Deepak Behera 4/47) Odisha 1st innings 54 for one.

At Guwahati, Assam vs Andhra, Andhra 1st innings 137 all out (Mohammad Kaif 60; Arup Das 4/24, Swarupam Purkayastha 3/35) Assam 1st innings 32 for one.

At Mumbai, Mumbai vs Baroda, Mumbai 1st innings 218 for six (Aditya Tare 67, Shrideep mangela 55; Mynaf Patel 2/35).

At Kolkata, Bengal vs Railways, Bengal 1st innings 268 (Manoj Tiwary 68, Shreevats Goswami 62; Anureet Singh 4/25, Arnab Nandi 2/53).

At Porvorim, Goa vs Jharkhand, Jharkhand 1st innings 229 for two (Saurabh Tiwary 100 not out, Shiv Gautam 72 not out).

At Valsad, Gujarat vs Maharashtra, Gujarat 1st innings 277 for seven (Venugopal Rao 104; Anupam Sanklecha 3/62, Samad Fallah 2/43).

Rohtak, Haryana vs Rajasthan, Haryana 1st innings 339 for seven (Himanshu Rana 149, Nitin Saini 100; Aniket Choudhury 3/79).

At Agartala, Himachal Pradesh vs Tripura, Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 314 for four (Paras Dogra 106 not out, Ankit Kalsi 63; MB Murasingh 2/58).

At Indore, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)vs Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 271 for four (Jalaj Saxena 89, Nama Ojha 85).

At Kannur, Kerala vs Services, Kerala 1st innings 273 for four (Sanju Samson 143 not out; Suraj Yadav 2/55).

At Nagpur, Vidarbha vs Delhi, Vidarbha 1st innings 274 for six (Ganesh Satish 119; Shivam Sharma 2/49).