After conceding a 33-run first innings lead, defending champions Karnataka fought their back into the game by pegging Baroda to 204 for eight in their second innings to put the Group A Ranji Trophy league match on a knife-edge on the third and penultimate day, here Friday.
Paceman Arvind Sreenath ripped through the top order of Baroda with a three-wicket strike before first innings centurion Deepak Hooda came up with a gritty 67 (135b, 10x4) to prevent a total collapse, adding 65 runs for the fifth wicket with Irfan Pathan (28).
Later, tail-enders Swapnil Singh (11 not out) and Gagandeep Singh (19 not out) defied the Karnataka attack by putting on 38 vital runs for the unfinished ninth wicket after Baroda were struggling at 166 for eight.
With Baroda ahead by just 237 runs with two wickets in hand, the game is poised for a needle finish Saturday with both teams in with a chance to win.
Earlier, thanks to some dogged batting by tail-enders, Karnataka, overnight 235 for six, came within sight of Baroda total, but in the end, fell short by 33 runs as they were all out for 302.
Karnataka owed it to Abrar Kazi (35 not out) and Abhimanyu Mithun (40) who notched crucial runs to keep their side in the hunt.
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For Baroda, left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh came away with four for 74 while seamers Sagar Mangalorkar and Gagandeep picked up two apiece.
Brief scores:
At Mysuru - Baroda 335 and 204 for 8 in 67 overs (Deepak Hooda 67, Arvind Sreenath 3 for 27, Ronit More 2 for 50) vs Karnataka (1st innings) 302 all out in 100.5 overs (Lokesh Rahul 89, Manish Pandey 34, Karun Nair 38, Abrar Kazi 35 not out, Abhimanyu Mithun 40, Irfan Pathan 2 for 54, Sagar Mangalorkar 2 for 78, Gagandeep Singh 2 for 52, Swapnil Singh 4 for 74).
At Balangir - Odisha vs Rajasthan, Rajasthan 1st innings 305 all out, Odisha 144 for nine, 2nd innings (following on) 199 all out (Anurag Sarangi 56, Pratik Das 44; Tanveer-Ul-Haq 4/29, Pankaj Singh 3/50) Rajasthan 2nd innings 42 for no loss, Rajasthan won by 10 wickets
At Chennai - Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu, Mumbai 141 all out, Tamil Nadu 1st innings 417 all out, Mumbai 2nd innings 232 all out (Suryakumar Yadav 65, Shreyas Iyer 52; Aushik Srinivas 3/27, murali Vijay 2/33, Rahil Shah 2/48) Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 44 runs
At Rajkot - Saurashtra vs Haryana, Saurashtra 1st innings 238 all out, Haryana 1st innings 226 Saurashtra 2nd innings 213 all out, Haryana 2nd innings 163 all out ( Jayant Yadav 35; DA Jadeja 6/63, Kamlesh Makvana 3/48) Saurashtra won by 62 runs
At Mysuru - Baroda (1st innings - overnight 320 for 8): 335 all out in 95.1 vs Karnataka (1st innings): 302 all out (Lokesh Rahul 89, Abhimanyu Mithun 40, Swapnil Singh 4 for 74) Baroda 2nd innings 204 for eight (Deepak Hooda 67; Sreenath Aravind 3/27)
At Porvorim - Goa vs Assam, Goa 1st innings 175 all out, Assam 1st inninings 435 for eight (Gokul tarjinder Singh 119,Sharma 53; Darshan Mishal 2/62) Goa 2nd innings 82 for no loss
At Surat - Vidarbha vs Gujarat, Vidarbha 1st innings 236 all out, Gujarat 1st innings 248 all out, Vidarbha 2nd innings 307 for eight (Shalabh Shrivastava 101, Faiz Fazal 75; Ramesh Powar 5/99, Rush Kalaria 3/44)
At Dharamsala - Himachal Pradesh vs Andhra, Andhra 1st innings 301 for six (Murumulla Sriram 105; Rishi Dhawan 2/98)
At Delhi - Railways vs Jammu and Kashmir, Railways 1st innings 213 for four (Rohan Bhosle 54)
At Ranchi - Jharkhand vs Hyderabad, Jharkhand 1st innings 556 for 9 declared, Hyderabad 1st innings 377 for seven (Akshath Reddy 133; Varun Aaron 3/98)
At Pune - Maharastra vs Delhi, Maharastra 1st innings 330 all out, Delhi 1st innings 240 for four (Gautam Gambhir 94, Virender Sehwag 66; Anupam Sanklecha 4/62), Maharashtra 2nd innings 187 for five (Chirag Khurana 63; Parwinder Awana 2/42)
At Agartala - Tripura vs Kerala, Tripura 1st innings 179 all out, Kerala 1st innings 301 for nine (Abhishek Hedge 82; Rana Dutta 4/45), Tripura 2nd innings 84 for two (Bishal Ghosh 47 not out)
At Ghaziabad - Uttar Pradesh vs Bengal, Bengal 1st innings 141 for four (Sudip Chatterjee 60, Wriddhiman Saha 45; Kuldeep Yadav 2/58), second and third day's play abandoned due to rain.