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Karnataka on course for big win

Visitors Rajasthan looked headed for disaster - eight down for 128 chasing 359 for victory - against hosts and defending champions Karnataka on Friday, the penultimate day of the Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy Super League match in Bangalore.

Rajasthan are faced with the almost impossible task of scoring 231 runs for victory or batting out the final day to save the match.

Earlier, Rahul Dravid, who had stood tall amidst the Karnataka ruins in the first innings, was once again the hero for the hosts. Aided by his masterly 149 and good knocks from Mithun Beerala (59) and Thilak Naidu (49), the home team - which had gained a 32-run first innings lead after being bowled out for 243 in the first essay - posted a formidable 326 the second time around.

The famed Karnataka trio of Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and skipper Anil Kumble took two wickets apiece to put the team at the doorstep of an impressive win.

Scoreboard
Karnataka (1st innings): 243

Rajasthan (1st innings): 211

Karnataka (2nd innings, overnight 77 for 1): M. Beerala c P.K.Kumar b Kanwat 59, Barrington c & b Kanwat 22, R. Dravid b Dave 149, T. Naidu c Rohit b G Sharma 49, B Akhil c Kuldeep b D Singh 20, Sunil Joshi not out 7, A Vijay c Rohit b D Singh 1.

Extras (6 b, 10 lb, 3 nb): 19. Total (for six wickets decl, 72 overs) 326.

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-128, 3-243, 4-247, 5-323, 6-326.

Bowling: Shamsheer Singh 8-2-30-0, Krishna Kumar 3-0-24-0, D.P.Singh 18.2-2-70-2, Anup Dave 9-1-43-1, Rahul Kanwat 27-2-98-2, Anshu Jain 1-1-0-0, Gagan Khoda 2-0-12-0, Gaurav Sharma 4-0-33-1.

Rajasthan (2nd innings): Anshu Jain c Barrington b Vijay 32, Nikhil Doru c Dravid b Prasad 4, K Singh c Bijay b Kumble 28, Rahul Kanwat b Kumble 0, Krishna Kumar run out 13, Gagan Khoda c Naidu b Srinath 3, R Jhalani lbw Srinath 0, G Sharma c Akhil b Prasad 13, D.P.Singh batting 27, Anup Dave batting 0.

Extras (4 lb, 4 b): 8. Total (for eight wickets, 51 overs): 128.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-62, 3-63, 4-68, 5-73, 6-73, 7-96, 8-114.

Bowling: J Srinath 8-3-14-2, V Prasad 8-2-20-2, S Joshi 14-4-39-0, D Ganesh 5-2-13-0, A Kumble 14-7-27-2, A Vijay 2-0-7-1.

CALCUTTA: A sporting declaration by Bengal skipper Saurav Ganguly is unlikely to change the course of the match and the tie seems headed for a draw. The hosts however managed to gain the vital first-innings lead in the Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Delhi at the Eden Gardens and the visitors were 30 without loss at draw of stumps on Friday, the third day of the four-day match.

With the wicket playing easy and the bowling attacks of both the sides looking nothing more than ordinary, an outright result in this match is almost impossible.

However, full marks should go to Bengal skipper, Saurav Ganguly for at least making an effort to make a match out of a seemingly lacklustre tie.

In response to the visitors’ first-innings total of 236 all out, Ganguly declared the Bengal innings at 374 for eight, 44 minutes after tea, in a bid to wrest eight points from the tie with the hosts 138 runs ahead.

Scoreboard
Delhi (1st innings): 236.

Bengal (1st innings, overnight 194-4): Nikhil Haldipur c Gill b Sanghvi 92, Debang Gandhi c Dahiya b Gill 0, Rohan Gavaskar c Chopra b Sanghvi 53, Srikant kalyani c Akash malhotra b S. Gill 90, Saurav Ganguly c sub (Gambhir) b N. Chopra 5, Saba Karim c A. Chopra b Sehwag 46, Utpal Chatterjee c Chopra b Ajay Sharma 24, W. Majumdar c sub (Gambhir) b Gill 34, Laxmi Ratan Shukla not out 15.

Extras (b-5, lb-7, nb-3) 15. Total (for 8 wickets decl., 102.2 overs): 374.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-127, 3-156, 4-173, 5-243, 6-288, 7-347, 8-374.

Bowling: Robin Singh 27-5-92-0; Sanjay Gill 13.2-2-41-3; Akash Malhotra 1-0-8-0; Nikhil Chopra 19-3-68-1; Rahul Sanghvi 32-5-111-2; V. Sehwag 5-0-24-1; Ajay Sharma 5-1-18-1.

HYDERABAD: A superb unbeaten century by Vanka Pratap (100) and his 120-run fifth wicket partnership with Parth Satwalkar (73) enabled hosts Hyderabad gain a vital 59-run first innings lead over Bihar on Friday, the third day of the Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy Super League match at Gymkhana grounds.

Hyderabad openers Nanda Kishore (82) and V.V.S. Laxman (119) put up a solid 164-run first wicket partnership which came in 156 minutes off 36.3 overs. Laxman scored his 13th century in the Ranji Trophy and the third century of the season. His ton came in 256 minutes off 173 balls with 17 hits to the fence and one over it.

Scoreboard
Bihar (1st innings): 381.

Hyderabad (1st innings): Nanda Kishore c Shahid Khan b Dheeraj Kumar 82, VVS Laxman c Dheeraj b Vikas 119, D.Vinay c MS Doni b Vikas 11, Vanka Pratap not out 100, M.V.Sridhar b Diwakar 15, Parth Satwalkar c Manishb Shahid 73, Shivaji Yadav c Rajeev b Shahid 2, N.P.Singh st. Doni b Shahid 8, Youraj Singh run out 5, Venkatapathi Raju not out 1.

Extras: (8 b; 10 lb, 6 nb) 24. Total: (for 8 wickets in 120 overs) 440

Fall of wickets: 1-164, 2-189, 3-236, 4-284, 5-404, 6-415, 7-423, 8-437.

Bowling: Dheeraj Kumar 25-4-80-1, M Diwakar 26-6-85-1, Vikas Kumar 41-5-173-2, Shahid Khan 26-4-82-3, N.Ranjan 2-0-2-0.

Second day's play: Joshi knocks the door