Left-arm spinner R Ramkumar bagged a hat-trick and speedster Lakshmipathy Balaji picked four wickets as Tamil Nadu dismissed Karnataka for 208 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B cricket league match in Bangalore on Friday.

The 22-year-old Ramkumar polished off the Karnataka tail, sending back Dodda Ganesh, Venkatesh Prasad and Udit Patel in successive balls as Karnataka, electing to bat, were all out in 85.5 overs.

Extras, which accounted for 49 runs, contributed the most to Karnataka's total.

Sunil Joshi scored an unbeaten 46 (7x4, 1x6) before running out of partners.

The highlight of Karnataka's innings was a 50-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Deepak Chougule (23) and V S Thilak Nadu (32).

For Tamil Nadu, last season's Ranji Trophy finalists, Ramkumar (4-42), Balaji (4-51) and M R Srinivas (2-36) were the successful bowlers.

At stumps, Tamil Nadu were three without loss in two overs, with skipper S Suresh batting on three and Sadagopan Ramesh yet to open his account.

Karnataka were last year's Plate champions.

Scoreboard

Karnataka (Ist innings):
J Arun Kumar b Balaji 26
Barrington Rowland c Raju b Srinivas 5
Sudhindra Shinde b Srinivas 11
Deepak Chougule c Suresh b Balaji 23
V S Thilak Naidu lbw Ramkumar 32
Stuart Binny c Raju b Balaji 0
B Akhil c Sharath b Balaji 7
Sunil Joshi not out 46
Dodda Ganesh c Raju b Ramkumar 9
Venkatesh Prasad c Suresh b Ramkumar 0
Udit Patel c Ramesh b Ramkumar 0

Extras: (b-23, lb-12, nb-9, w-5) 49

Total: (all out in 85.5 overs)  208

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-51, 3-54, 4-104, 5-104, 6-134, 7-169, 8-208, 9-208.

Bowling: L Balaji 23-4-51-4; M R Srinivas 16-6-36-2; S Suresh 12-1-23-0; R Ram Kumar 28.5-6-42-4; Ganesh Kumar 6-1-21-0.

Tamil Nadu (1st innings):
S Suresh batting 3
S Ramesh batting 0

Total: (for no loss in 2 overs) 3

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 1-0-3-0; Sunil Joshi 1-1-0-0.