Dehradun, Dec 28 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh’s top and middle-order batted with purpose to bail them out from a hopeless situation as they were just 10 runs away from wiping out a massive deficit against Uttarakhand at stumps on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Wednesday.

Uttarakhand seamer Deepak Dhapola, who was unplayable on Tuesday and returned with enviable figures of 8 for 35 to dismiss Himachal for just 49 runs in the first innings, could not recreate the same magic on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

At stumps, Himachal were 277 for four, just 10 runs away from Uttarakhand’s first innings lead of 287 runs.

With Akash Vasisht and Rishi Dhawan batting on 73 and 32 runs respectively, the duo have, for now, ensured Himachal will not suffer an innings defeat, though with two full days of play left, Uttarakhand are in pole position to win the contest and earn full points — and perhaps a bonus if they win by 10 wickets.

Earlier, Uttarakhand continued from where they had left off on Tuesday at 295 for six, with Aditya Tare adding just one run to his overnight score of 91 before being dismissed by Vaibhav Arora.

The other overnight batter Abhay Negi added 28 more runs and eventually the home team’s first innings wound up at 336 off 75.4 overs.

With a massive lead of 287, and the fragility of the opponents laid bare by Dhapola in the first innings, Uttarakhand would have fancied their chances of finishing the game inside two day.

But the determination showed by openers Raghav Dhawan (32) and Prashant Chopra (43), rubbed off on later-order batters, especially Ankit Kalsi (44) and Akash Vasisht (73 not out), as they played sensibly to make amends for their first-innings recklessness.

Dhapola sent down 12 overs but only got the wicket of Ankit Kalsi, while left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra was the most successful home team bowler, returning figures of 22-1-85-2.

Brief Scores: At Dehradun: Himachal Pradesh 49 and 277/4 in 76 overs (Raghav Dhawan 32, Prashant Chopra 43, Ankit Kalsi 44, Amit Kumar 37, Akash Vasisht 73 n.o., Rishi Dhawan 32 n.o.) versus Uttarakhand 336 in 75.4 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 45, Aditya Tare 92, Abhay Negi 70; Vaibhav Arora 4/80, Rishi Dhawan 3/65). Himachal trail by 10 runs.

At Cuttack: Haryana 338 in 100 overs (Nishant Sindhu 142, Rohit Sharma 55, Jayant Yadav 41; Suryakant Pradhan 6/93, Prayash Singh 3/66) versus Odisha 204 for 3 in 78 overs (Anurag Sarangi 63, Shantanu Mishra 60, Subhranshu Senapati 42 n.o.) Odisha trail by 134 runs.

At Vadodara: Uttar Pradesh 258 in 100.5 overs (Priyam Garg 52, Akshdeep Nath 71; Bhargav Bhatt 3/81) verus Baroda 221 for 6 in 78 overs (Ninad Rathva 93 n.o.) Baroda trail by 37 runs.

At Sovima: Nagaland 166 (Chetan Bist 64; Pradipta Pramanik 6/43) versus Bengal 336 for 4 in 82 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 170, Sudip Gharami 104). Bengal lead by 170 runs.

Source: PTI News