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Friday, Jan 06, 2006

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Joshi and Kumble trigger Delhi collapse

Principal Correspondent

Karnataka takes crucial first innings lead

Bangalore: Sunil Joshi and Anil Kumble struck in tandem earlier in the morning and later skipper Sujith Somasundar and Thilak Naidu scored some crucial runs to help Karnataka wrest back the initiative against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Elite Division Group `A' match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

At the third day's close, Karnataka scored 196 for five in its second innings after bowling out Delhi for 258 to gain a 25-run first innings lead and an overall lead of 221.

Earlier resuming at 213 for two, Delhi collapsed as Joshi (six for 73) and Kumble (three for 89) wreaked havoc. Joshi castled Sehwag with an arm-ball while the Delhi skipper attempted to guide the ball to third-man.

Joshi also trapped Akash Chopra (84, 233b, 8x4) and in the very next delivery, snapped up Rajat Bhatia, who edged to first slip. Varun Kumar avoided the hat-trick but was soon consumed by Kumble who also lured a fatal shot from Mithun Manhas. The tail just caved in as Somasundar's men turned around their fortunes through Joshi and Kumble.

Poor start

The Karnataka second innings had a poor start as openers Robin Uthappa and Bharath Chipli scored cameos while Barrington and Shinde fell cheaply. Robin and Chipli enjoyed their reprieves off seamer Amit Bhandari but after promising much with some deft flicks and drives, just wilted with poor shot-selection. The duo succumbed to leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda. The middle-order slumped briefly as Barrington shouldered arms to Nanda and Shinde let Sehwag slip one through the gate. At 94 for four, Karnataka needed a partnership to forge ahead and it arrived in the form of Somasundar (54) and Thilak Naidu (44 n.o.).

The duo rotated the strike, used their feet to the spinners, employed the pull with precision to the odd half-volley and rustled up a fifth-wicket partnership worth 71 runs. Eventually, Somasundar swatted one straight back to Sehwag and it was left to Thilak and Akhil to stay firm while the shadows lengthened.

TN dominates

At Kolkata, Tamil Nadu's domination of Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Elite group `A' continued on the third day of the four-day game at the Eden Gardens. Having set Bengal a target of 497, the visitors managed to capture three Bengal wickets for 109 runs in 24.1 overs at close.

The home team needed 388 runs more with seven wickets in hand to register what looked like an unlikely win. At stumps, No. 3 Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and No. 5 Sourav Ganguly were unbeaten on 34 and 25 runs respectively.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at 164 for three went on to score 423 for seven wickets declared, thanks to Hemang Badani's fluent 157 (372m, 16x4, 1x6), S. Sriram's 96 and K. Shri Vasudevadas' 62. The declaration came at tea, leaving Bengal to negotiate the last session of the third day and three sessions on the final day.

The scores:

Karnataka — 1st innings: 283

Delhi — 1st innings: S. Dhawan c Akhil b Joshi 82, A. Chopra lbw Joshi 84, M. Tehlan b Kumble 0, V. Sehwag b Joshi 56, M. Manhas c Aiyappa b Kumble 13, R. Bhatia c Somasundar b Joshi 0, Varun Kumar b Kumble 0, A. Sharma c Chipli b Joshi 4, C. Nanda (not out) 1, Kunal Lal (run out) 1, A. Bhandari lbw Joshi 4. Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-4) 13. Total (in 91.3 overs) 258.

Fall of wickets: 1-142, 2-142, 3-229, 4-241, 5-241, 6-246, 7-250, 8-253, 9-254.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay 10-2-31-0, Aiyappa 11-3-41-0, Akhil 3-3-0-0, Kumble 32-6-89-3, Joshi 30.3-7-73-6, Shinde 5-0-15-0.

Karnataka — 2nd innings: R. Uthappa c Shikhar b Nanda 20, B. Chipli lbw Nanda 36, R. Barrington b Nanda 0, S. Shinde b Sehwag 16, S. Somasundar c & b Sehwag 54, Thilak (batting) 44, B. Akhil (batting) 13. Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-10) 13. Total (for five in 75 overs) 196.

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-63, 4-94, 5-165.

Delhi bowling: Bhandari 8-1-35-0, Kunal 4-1-14-0, Nanda 23-4-61-3, Sehwag 19-6-42-2, Manhas 1-0-3-0, Abhishek 16-3-34-0, Bhatia 4-1-4-0.

Other scores: Elite group: At Ahmedabad: Gujarat 200 and 190 for eight in 74.5 overs (Niraj Patel 72, Ramesh Powar five for 49) vs Mumbai 207 in 97 overs (Amol Muzumdar 64, J. Makla four for 25).

At New Delhi: Maharashtra 237 and 91 for three in 47 overs vs. Railways 140 in 71.4 overs (Munaf Patel six for 50)

Baroda 449 for four decl. in 115 overs (Pinal Shah 217 not out, Rakesh Solanki 107, Jacob Martin 53 not out) vs Services 194 for three in 59.2 overs (M.P. Reddy 51, Jasvir Singh 63 batting).

At Visakhapatnam: Punjab 316 and 98 for three in 33 overs vs Andhra 273 in 95.4 overs (M.S.K. Prasad 72, Venugopala Rao 78, Rajesh Sharma five for 61).

At Lucknow: Hyderabad 142 and 227 in 77.4 overs (Arjun Yadav 49, Piyush Chawla five for 37) vs. Uttar Pradesh 340 and four for no loss.

Plate group: Tripura 163 and 203 beat Himachal Pradesh 80 and 156 in 89.2 overs (Rajib Nayyar 48, Nishant Verma 41, Vineet Jain seven for 29).

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