Captain Sitanshu Kotak and vice-captain Prakash Bhatt's half centuries helped Saurashtra take a first innings lead over Himachal Pradesh on the second day of their Plate 'B' Ranji Trophy cricket match in Rajkot on Tuesday.

Saurashtra, resuming at their overnight score of 15 for no loss, lost both openers quickly in the morning, but Kotak (69) and Bhatt (62) helped Saurashtra score 232 for five in 94 overs.

Kotak scored 69 with eight fours while Bhatt's 62 included 10 fours.

F Bambhania was batting on 34, with five fours, and R Dhruv was not out on 19 at the close of play.

For Himachal Pradesh, V Bhatia and A Thakur took two wickets each and conceded 69 and 67 runs respectively.

Earlier Himachal Pradesh had scored 214 in 85.1 overs on the opening day.