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Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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Rajasthan holds the aces

Principal Correspondent

Mysore: Rajasthan held the aces after scoring 393 and restricting Karnataka to 118 for three at close on the second day of the Ranji Trophy super league Group ‘A’ cricket match at the Gangotri Glades Stadium here on Sunday.

Resuming at 266 for four, Rajasthan continued to make steady progress despite losing R. Jhalani early in the morning besides suffering a twin-strike by Sunil Joshi.

The left arm spinner, who had a well-deserved six-wicket haul, prised out Afroz Khan and Shamsher Singh off successive deliveries before missing out on the hat-trick as he speared the ball on the leg-side to Pankaj Singh. The Rajasthan innings found sustenance in Robin Bisht’s perseverance (99, 203b, 10x4, 1x6) and in a tail that wagged as Pankaj (40) and Md. Aslam (32) shared a 52-run ninth-wicket partnership.

Bisht, who enjoyed a reprieve on 97 with Aiyappa dropping a miscued hook off Vinay, failed to cash in and spooned a catch to backward square-leg.

In reply, Karnataka briefly thrived on a 78-run partnership between openers K.B. Pawan (24) and Robin Uthappa (55).

Uthappa, after a few edgy minutes, settled down slowly with an on-drive off Pankaj Singh and a straight drive off Shamsher Singh. However, he was stranded on the back foot as Rajasthan skipper and left-arm spinner Aslam hurried one through and trapped Uthappa plumb in front.

Pawan also fell soon and with Sudhindra Shinde playing a needless slog-sweep against Shamsher Singh and finding a fielder at mid-wicket, the host was left 275 runs adrift off Rajasthan’s first innings score.

The scores: Rajasthan — 1st innings: M. Sharma lbw b Joshi 68, V. Saxena c Uthappa b Aiyappa 42, N. Doru b Joshi 4, R. Bisht c Appanna b Vinay 99, R. Bishnoi c Shinde b Raghu 11, R. Jhalani c Akhil b Aiyappa 62, Afroz lbw b Joshi 5, Shamsher b Joshi 0, Pankaj b Joshi 40, Md. Aslam c Akhil b Joshi 32, S. Mathur (not out) 0, Extras (lb-21, b-9): 30; Total (in 137.2 overs): 393.

Fall of wickets: 1-120, 2-126, 3-126, 4-159, 5-274, 6-288, 7-288, 8-334, 9-386.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay 30-11-100-1, Aiyappa 24-6-61-2, Akhil 10-5-18-0, Joshi 42.2-11-83-6, Appanna 24-5-76-0, Raghu 7-3-25-1.

Karnataka — 1st innings: K.B. Pawan c Jhalani b Mathur 24, R. Uthappa lbw b Aslam 55, S. Shinde c Aslam b Shamsher 25, C. Raghu (batting) 9, K.P. Appanna (batting) 2, Extras (lb-1, nb-2): 3; Total (three wkts. in 44 overs) 118.

Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-85, 3-114.

Rajasthan bowling: Pankaj 8-0-36-0, Mathur 10-1-26-1, Aslam 14-4-25-1, Afroz 8-2-23-0, Shamsher 4-1-7-1.

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