Amit Mishra has been a one-man army for Haryana. The skipper, and India leg-spinner till the England tour, has ensured his state's presence in the Ranji quarterfinals in the last three seasons.
On the eve of this game, he was a worried man on a few counts. He wanted to give a good account of himself in order to get back into national reckoning and also wanted to shake off the last two seasons' jinx of not qualifying for the last four.
Though the green wicket, with good bounce and carry, didn't allow him much purchase, he led the team ably to slay one of the big giants of domestic cricket, Karnataka, by six wickets and fulfil his second objective.
The game tilted slightly Karnataka's way at the start of the day thanks to their middle-order batsmen, but Haryana were in control soon after due to umpiring blunders.
Amit Verma was adjudged leg before to one that pitched outside leg and skipper Ganesh Satish got an identical decision despite a thick inside edge. Stuart Binny tried to stave off the pressure by trying to hit out. He could only manage a top edge. That was it. Haryana, after a few hiccups, wound up the game just before the end of day's play.