Karnataka kept its expected tryst with another Ranji Trophy final. On the penultimate day of the semifinal, the defending champion needed just 70 minutes to grab Mumbai’s remaining three wickets and with Abhishek Nayar preferring common-sense over bravado and resting, the visitor finished with 332 in its second innings.
The host took a while to accept that it had won the contest by 112 runs.
Skipper R. Vinay Kumar, the Man-of-the-Match, for his six for 20 spell that sunk Mumbai for 44 in its first innings, stood next to the non-striker’s end as Siddhesh Lad (74, 143b, 8x4, 1x6) departed after snicking an S. Arvind bouncer.
Vinay kept staring at the Mumbai dressing room and once he was convinced that Nayar wasn’t stepping out, he plucked a stump, pumped his fist, waved to the fans rooting for him and his men, and then sprinted towards his ecstatic team-mates.
Resuming at the overnight 277 for six, Mumbai started on the back-foot as Nayar, who pottered around on the previous evening, rightly didn’t turn up considering that he has been advised rest by doctors following his fall on the second day.
An early closure on Saturday became obvious once Abhimanyu Mithun trapped Balwinder Singh Sandhu though the batsman was unlucky as there was an inside-edge onto his pad.
Mithun would have legitimately dismissed Shardul Thakur immediately but a diving K.L. Rahul dropped him at short cover. Mumbai flickered for a bit with Lad hoisting Shreyas Gopal for six, but with the leg-spinner luring Thakur into a tame prod and then Arvind’s bounce surprising Lad, Karnataka will head to Mumbai for the final commencing at the Wankhede Stadium on March 8.
The scores:
Karnataka — 1st innings: 202 in 60.2 overs.
Mumbai — 1st innings: 44 in 15.3 overs.
Karnataka — 2nd innings: 286 in 77.5 overs.
Mumbai — 2nd innings: Aditya Tare c Uthappa b Arvind 98, Akhil Herwadkar lbw b Mithun 31, Shreyas Iyer c (sub) Suchith b Mithun 50, Suryakumar Yadav c Uthappa b Mithun 36, Siddhesh Lad c Uthappa b Arvind 74, Nikhil Patel c Kunal b Vinay 0, Wilkin Mota b Shreyas 9, Abhishek Nayar (retd. hurt) 2, Balwinder Singh Sandhu lbw b Mithun 5, Shardul Thakur c Vinay b Shreyas 13, Harmeet Singh (not out) 2; Extras (b-9, lb-2, w-1): 12; Total (in 121.1 overs) 332.
Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-155, 3-194, 4-236, 5-237, 6-268, 7-292, 8-322, 9-332.
Karnataka bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 32-6-101-1, Abhimanyu Mithun 34-14-69-4 , S. Arvind 21.1-6-64-1 , Shreyas Gopal 27-5-68-2, Karun Nair 3-0-10-0, R. Samarth 4-1-9-0.