E-Paper
Punjab stumble towards exit
Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar saved Karnataka any blushes as the hosts took the vital first-innings lead against Punjab and placed one foot firmly in the semifinals, reports Ashutosh Sharma.
Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar saved Karnataka any blushes as the hosts took the vital first-innings lead against Punjab and placed one foot firmly in the semifinals. In their second innings Punjab made a steady reply despite knowing that only an outright win could save them. In the end they laboured to an 87-run lead.
Starting on 265 for 6 Karnataka needed just 36 to overhaul Punjab's target but lost Sunil Joshi early to a superb fielding effort from Taruwar Kohli.
Pandey, however, carried on in the same vein. Batting aggressively, the youngster drove and pulled with aplomb to bring up his third century of this season. He hit a boundary to bring up Karnataka's 300 and then done with the lead, Pandey opened up a bit more, taking on Love Ablish. He hit three fours in one Ablish over to force him out of attack.
Punjab finally saw the back of Pandey (115) when he was adjudged lbw to Kohli. By then the hosts had already taken an 18-run lead. Vinay Kumar then extended Punjab's misery, bringing up his maiden first class half-century. He used the long handle to good effect as Karnataka raced to a handy 78-run lead.
The last pair of Vinay (51not out) and Arvind (11) added 47 before the innings ended on 378.
Punjab began their second innings aggressively with Sunny Sohal and Ravi Inder taking 19 runs from three overs. But, after lunch, Punjab looked a different side as they inexplicably brought the match to a standstill. They added 73 in 31 overs between lunch and tea, crawling to 92 for one in 34 overs.
Karnataka's fielding woes continued, and after dropping five chances in first innings, they grassed two more sitters on Saturday.
Sohal was dropped on 51 by Arvind at long-on off Vinay and was reprieved again on 62 by Ganesh Satish at covers. At stumps, Sohal was batting on 85 while Sidana reached 37.
