Mumbai played bright cricket for six and half hours and scored 317 runs in 82.3 overs, but the last ball dismissal of Dhaval Kulkarni — a lobbed catch to mid on — only reflected the pressure it was under right through the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A' match against Karnataka at the Brabourne Stadium here on Saturday.
Abhishek Nayar's splendid endeavour against odds — especially after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma — fetched him his second century of the season in as many matches, but Karnataka's seamers R. Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Stuart Binny demonstrated terrific resolve and effort to put their team in a commanding position. In reply to Karnataka's 635 for nine declared, Mumbai has made 354 for eight wickets.
For the second time in two matches, Nayar (137, 342m, 216 b, 18 x 4s) retired to the dressing room complaining of cramps. The left-hander is the host's last hope of keeping Karnataka on the field and in the process add some valuable runs.
Vinay Kumar, Mithun and Binny struck blows with the second new ball claimed after 80 overs and the Karnataka captain would be encouraged to pursue three more points in the event of Nayar being dismissed quickly in order to enforce the follow-on.
The scores:
Karnataka — Ist innings: 635 for nine decl
Mumbai — Ist innimgs : A. Rahane c Pawan b Vinaykumar 24, W. Jaffer lbw b Vinay Kumar 0, A. Nayar 137 (retd hurt), R. Sharma b Mithun 64, S. A. Yadav c Verma b Binny 23, R. Powar lbw b Binny 26, I. Abdullah b Vinay Kumar 22, A. Agarkar b Mithun 13, D. Kulkarni c Aravind b Binny 17, O. Gurav (batting) 20, Extras (lb-1, nb-2, w-5) 8, Total (for eight wkts in 94.3 overs) 354.
Fall of wkts: 1-3, 2-50, 3-176, 4-228, 5-301, 6-310, 7-326, 8-354.
Karnataka bowling: Vinaykumar 21-5-79-3, Mithun 22-3-79-2, Appanna 19-3-79-0, Aravind 17-0-73-0, Satish 1-0-2-0, Verma 4-0-14-0, Binny 10.3-0-27-3.
