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Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006

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Gujarat bowlers hold sway

Special Correspondent

Karnataka batsmen come a cropper again

Ahmedabad: Karnataka, a contender for a semifinal spot in the Ranji Trophy, faced the music against Gujarat's seamers in its first innings of their Elite Group `A' encounter at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium here on Tuesday.

Lanky seamer Siddharth Trivedi, with a tally of 29 wickets before this crucial match for his side, Hitesh Majmudar and left-arm seamer Ashraf Makda bowled efficiently to share nine wickets between them and skittle out the visitor for 163 in a little over four hours.

Save for Bharat Chipli (76) and Stuart Binny (45), none of Karnataka's batsmen could made a mark. And in the four overs it bowled in near fading light, Karnataka failed to make a breakthrough.

Delayed start

After a delayed start the home team's decision — well planned by coach Aunshuman Gaekwad — to field first turned out to be a tactical hit. The host opted for one of the side pitches late in the afternoon on Monday. Heavy watering of the surface rendered it damp and it was only after two inspections that umpires Vijay Chopra and Satish Gupta started the game at 40 minutes past noon.

What followed just about confirmed the poor form of the Karnataka batsmen. What was even more disappointing was its batsmen's utter lack of application to overcome the line and length bowling and the extra bit that the pitch afforded for almost three hours.

Trivedi drew first blood getting the better of Barrington Rowland's tentative defence on the 15th ball of the match. Robin Uthappa, dropped by Azharuddin Bilakhia at first slip off Makda, Sujith Somasunder and Sudhindra Shinde made fleeting appearances in the middle. Thilak Naidu added to Karnataka's woes, attempting a shot no captain or team management would tolerate. Trying to pull a stump height ball from Majmudar, he paid the price. The bails went flying once he failed to connect the ball.

Reprieved when Karnataka was two down for 21, Chipli mistimed a few shots that found the gap through the slips. He then cracked two lovely cover drives, and held fort for more than two and half hours before falling to Trivedi. Chipli struck 12 fours.

Binny, coming at the fall of the sixth wicket at 111, brought about a refreshing change. His positive outlook saw him play three splendid hook shots and firm strokes in front of the wicket. The pick of his shot was the off driven six off Trivedi. He tried to farm the strike with three lower order batsmen, but once tailender N.C. Aiyappa appeared on the scene, he took his chances and eventually drove uppishly into the hands of mid off.

The scores: Karnataka — 1st innings: R. Uthappa c Modi b Makda 9, B. Rowland b Trivedi 1, B. Chipli c Modi b Trivedi 76, S. Somasunder c Brahmabhatt b Majmudar 2, S. Shinde b Majmudar 0, T. Naidu b Majmudar 10, B. Akhil lbw b Trivedi 13, S. Binny c Christian b Trivedi 45, S. Joshi c Damani b Watekar 4, R. Vinaykumar c Brahmabhatt b Majmudar 0, N. C. Aiyappa (not out) 1; Extras (lb-1, nb-1) 2; Total (in 57.1 overs) 163.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-21, 3-46, 4-50, 5-65, 6-111, 7-118, 8-144, 9-145.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 19.1-9-49-4, Makda 18-4-63-1, Majmudar 16-4-34, 4, Bilakhia 1-0-5-0, Watekar 3-0-11-1.

Gujarat — 1st innings: N. Modi (batting) 5, A. Christian (batting) 1; Total (for no loss in 4 overs) 6.

Karnataka bowling: Vinaykumar 1-0-4-0, Aiyappa 1-1-0-0, Joshi 1-1-0-0, Shinde 1-0-2-0.

Other scores: Elite group:

At Mumbai: Maharashtra 213 in 78.1 overs (Sairaj Bahutule 45 not out, R.P. Verma four for 63) vs. Mumbai 20 for two in nine overs.

At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 261 for two in 90 overs (S. Sriram 43, S. Badrinath 113 batting, Hemang Badani 91 batting) vs. Delhi.

At Kolkata: Railways 191 for five in 91 overs (Vineet Saxena 65) vs. Bengal.

At Anantpur: Uttar Pradesh 217 for five in 90 overs (Suresh Raina 42, G.K. Pandey 57 batting) vs. Andhra.

At Vadodara: Baroda 229 in 76.1 overs (Connor Williams 63, Pinal Shah 41, Y.K. Pathan 72, A. Absolem four for 51) vs Hyderabad 28 for one in 11 overs.

At New Delhi: Services 226 for five in 90 overs (S. Upadhaya 92, Sarabjit Singh 78 batting) vs. Haryana.

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