Historic first for Karnataka

Bangalore:  In the 71 years that the two teams have been rivals in the Ranji Trophy, the head-to-head was one-sided even if the history, as we know it, wasn’t.

The state of Mysore ca­me to be known as Kar­nataka and Bombay was re-christened Mum­bai. Bo­th sides have se­r­ved as launch pads to men who went on to be legends of the sport.

Yet, in all these years, one thing that has remained a constant was Mumbai’s dominance ov­er their rivals, and Kar­nataka’s lack of an outright win against their formidable foes.

On an unusually bright Christmas afternoon, Ka­r­­n­ataka, a young and ene­r­getic side with a sprinkling of experience, en­ded the jinx, scoring a thumping 160-run win over 40-time champions Mumbai.

At the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on the concluding day of their Group A, Ranji Trophy contest, the home side notched their fourth straight victory to retain the top spot on the points table with a berth in the quarterfinals firmly sealed.

Led from the front by an effective R. Vinay Kumar (3/32), Karnataka set Mum­bai a target of 282 in 83 overs in their penultimate league outing and bowled them out for 121 in an extended second session to take their points tally to 32. The day clearly belonged to the young Karnataka unit.

A team which for lo­ng depended on individual brilliance achieved the landmark win on the strength of a brilliant team effort.

If KL Rahul (120), Manish Pandey (119) and R. Sam­arth (75) put runs on the board, each of the bowlers, especially H.S Sharath with a match haul of eight wickets, ensured their batsmen’s efforts were well supplemented.

Starting the final day’s proceedings at 287 for 8, the hosts added on­ly 12 runs more before being bowled out in their second essay for 299.

Faced with a tricky target, the inexperienced Mumbai unit tried to understandably play it safe, hoping to bat out time, play out a draw and come away with three points, courtesy their 18-run first innings lead.

But Karnataka’s intent was a win and they started off in that direction in the right earnest. Buoyant by the return of pacers Vinay and Abhimanyu Mithun, their disciplined bowling put them in line for a victory early.

Vinay got the breakthr­ough in the seventh over, when he had opener Sub­ramanian Dorais­wamy’s off stump uprooted. Adi­tya Tare too saw his timber fall to a Vinay delivery which nipped back.

With the pacers eliciting awkward bounce and troubling the batsmen, Mumbai dug a hole for themselves when Mithun sent back skipper Wasim Jaffer, caught at gully by Karun Nair. Kaustubh Pawar followed his skipper back, falling to a peach of a delivery by Sharath which was snapped up by wicketkeeper CM Gautam off the outside edge.

Going into lunch at 63 for 4, there was no relief for Mumbai as wickets continued to tumble. The only time they offered any resistance was when Hiken Shah (28) and Siddhesh Lad (24) stitched up a 43-run fifth-wicket stand, but debutant Shr­eyas Gopal trapped Shah plumb in the front.

Lad and Suryakumar Yadav followed soon without adding a single run to leave Mumbai reeling at 93 for 7. With this disappeared any slender hope of the miracle Mumbai would have expected and in no time, Karnataka were celebrating an historic and famous win with a small but vivacious crowd for company.

SCOREBOARD
Karnataka I innings: 251
Mumbai I innings: 269
Karnataka II innings: (O/N 287/8): KP Appanna c A. Tare b S. Thakur 16, HS Sharath  b J. Khan 6, Extras 7 (2 nb, 4 lb, 1b), Total: 299 (allout; 78.3 overs)
FoW: 9-299.
Bowling: Javed Khan 15-1-69-3, Saurabh Natrawalkar 14-4-42-2, Vishal Dabholkar 21-0-89-2; Sha­rdul Thakur 16.3-0-71-2; Kaustubh Pawar 8-4-11-1, Suryakumar Yad­av 4-0-12-0.
Mumbai II innings:  Kaustubh Pawar c CM Gautam b HS Sharath 10, Subramanian Doraiswamy b Vinay 13, Aditya Tare b Vinay 0, Wasim Jaffer c Karun Nair b A. Mithun 3, Hiken Shah Shreyas 28, Siddesh Lad c Samarth b Sharath 24, Suryakumar Yadav c Karun Nair b Shreyas 0, Shardul Thakur b A. Mithun 10, Saurabh Netra­wal­kar lbw Shreyas 0, Javed Khan c Karun Nair b Vinay 15, Vishal Dabholkar not out 3, Extras: 15 (4b, 10lb, 1 nb) Total 121 (allout, 51.3 overs)
FoW: 1-19, 2-21, 3-36, 4-50, 5-93, 6-93, 7-93, 8-100, 9-119.
Bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 13.3-4-32-3; Abhimanyu Mithun 12-4-28-2; HS Sharath 10-5-12-3; Stuart Binny 9-3-19-0; Manish Pandey 1-1-0-0; R. Samarth 2-0-3-0; Shreyas Gopal 4-2-13-2.

It’s a special win, says Sharath

It’s a special win, says Sharath

Bangalore: Boyish charm, a smile which rarely goes missing, and more importantly a talent replete with determination and aggression, H.S Sharath, playing in his second Ranji Trophy season has proved he’s a talent for the future.

At the start of the season, former Indian pa­cer Javagal Srinath had said that the 20-year-old will be a player to watch and the medium pacer has showcased his abilities quite adm­irably with 25 wickets from five outings this season.

On Wednesday, as Kar­­n­­ataka romped home to a historic win against Mu­mbai, the long-lim­bed kabbadi player tur­ned cricketer played a pivotal role in the victory, claiming eight wickets.

His journey from Hos­a­­gavi village in Man­dya to Bengaluru, the hot-bed of cricket has been inked with hard work and sacrifices and the win was a defining moment for the youngster who had his father among the spectators for the first time.

Speaking about the win, the soft-spoken young turk said, “I didn’t know this was our first outright win aga­inst Mumbai. I’m very happy and it’s a special win because this is also the first time my father is watching me play. I would like to credit my success to him.”

When asked to compare his five-wicket ha­ul in the first innings to his five-for on debut ag­ainst Uttar Pradesh last season, Sharath sa­id, “Th­is one is more special because the perfor­man­ce has come aga­inst a top team like Mum­bai.”

Crediting his seniors R. Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun for the success, for the win, Sharath said, “We didn’t have a specific plan. We just wanted to keep it simple and bowl in the right areas. Vinay and Mithun gave us good breakthro­ughs. That was the turning point for us and after that it was easy for me to bowl and pick up wickets.”

With their last league outing next week aga­inst Delhi, Sharath said with the quarterfinals berth sealed, they go into the match without any pressure.

‘Hopefully we’ll qualify’

DC Correspondent

Bangalore: In a first class cricket career spanning over a decade and a half, Wasim Jaffer has wea­thered many a storm but on Wednesday, he was left feeling dejected as Mumbai lost their first Ranji Trophy match in six years. Their last defeat was against Hyde­rabad around the same time of the year in December 2006.

The outright loss to Karnataka, their first in 22 encounters, was a huge setback for the visitors. Mumbai (23 points) slipped to the third spot in the group, behind Gujarat (26). For the 40-time champions, the road from here to the quarterfinals is arduous and will rest on an outright win in the last league encounter against Gujarat and the fortunes of other teams in their group.

The visibly disappointed 35-year-old Mumbai skipper said, “I have played about 110-120 games and the next experienced player would have played 15-17, that’s the maximum. There are some talented players but they will take time. Obviously we wanted three points from this game, we were looking to save this game from the start but the last game becomes very critical now. Hopefully we will qualify. If we stay positive, we can win the next game then there’s a chance.”