Ranji Trophy: MP takes first innings lead despite Kaul's hundred

Punjab batsman Uday Kaul hit his 15th first class hundred but could not stop Madhya Pradesh from taking the first innings lead as the hosts were bowled out for 358, just 12 short of the visitors' total, here.

Punjab were in a strong position when they resumed at 182 for two but lost overnight batsman Mandeep Singh in the fifth ball of the day. He was caught by Ankit Sharma off Ishwar Pandey, the two players who brought MP back in the match with their superb bowling.

Left-hander Kaul kept the one end tight but saw batsmen coming and going one after another.

Elegant left-hander Yuvraj Singh (6) was also scalped by Pandey and Punjab started to slide after that as Ankit (5/122) returned with a five-wicket haul.

Himanshu Chawla was the only batsman who supported Kaul well, scoring a patient 49.

In their second innings, MP were 81 for three with with Sarabjit Ladda taking all the wickets.

Opener Jalaj Saxena was batting at 31 but other top order batsmen -- Aditya Shrivastava (27), Harpreet Singh (8) and Udit Birla (1) -- became Ladda's victims.

Giving Saxena company was Puneet Datey (5).