Dhruv Singh hat-trick gives Haryana edge

Haryana seamer Dhruv Singh took a hat-trick to rock table-toppers Uttar Pradesh on the first day at the Mohan Meakins Cricket Stadium in Ghaziabad. Allrounder Sachin Rana finished the job, taking four wickets as the fourth-place side in Group B bowled UP out for 167. Haryana had picked up two early wickets and just when opener Shivakant Shukla and UP captain Mohammad Kaif were looking to rebuild, Dhruv trapped Shukla in front and then removed Parvinder Singh and Ashish Yadav off the next two balls. Rana bowled Kaif soon after and UP were tottering on 58 for 6. Legspinner Piyush Chawla staged a rear-guard action with his 49, but UP couldn't cross the 200-run mark. Haryana openers Nitin Saini and Rahul Dewan compounded UP's woes with their unbeaten 84-run stand.

Left-arm seamer Mohinderraj Sharma took his first five-wicket haul of the season to help Himachal Pradesh bowl Karnataka out for 254 on the first day of their match in Dharmasala. It could have been worse for Karnataka after they were reduced to 46 for 5, but allrounder Stuart Binny's maiden first-class century and Amit Verma's 79 ensured they reached a respectable total. The visitors made the worst possible start when they lost opener KB Pawan in the first over of the morning. Mohinderraj then struck two quick blows before the two big wickets fell. Robin Uthappa was out caught behind to Himachal's leading wicket-taker seamer Rakesh Dhawan and then Karnataka's leading run-getter this season Manish Pandey became Mohinderraj's third victim. Binny and Verma put on 155 for the sixth wicket to save Karnataka's blushes. Himachal's openers played out one over at the end of the day to end at 1 for 0. Himachal are looking for their first victory of the season while Karnataka have a chance to go top of the Group B table as they are just two points off table-toppers Uttar Pradesh.

Punjab made some headway in erasing the recent memory of their fourth-round innings defeat to Baroda, reaching 277 for 3 at the end of the first day in their match against Orissa at the East Coast Railway Sports Association in Bhubaneswar. Opener Sarul Kanwar got his second first-class century and overtook the missing Yuvraj Singh as Punjab's leading run-getter this season. The tie was a crucial one for both sides as they are last and second-last in the Group B table. Orissa were under added pressure as they had a new captain, seamer Debasis Mohanty, after they dropped former skipper Shiv Sunder Das. Debasis, who has played 45 ODIs for India, went wicketless in his 19 overs as all Punjab's batsmen managed starts. Uday Kaul ended the day unbeaten on 55 while Punjab captain Pankaj Dharmani was batting on 35.