Karnataka down J&K to top table

Manjunath Hadimani | NT

Karnataka coasted to victory over Jammu and Kashmir by 117 runs to take home six points in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match in Chennai on Sunday.

Prasidh Krishna added four more wickets to his first-innings tally to make it a 10-wicket match haul, at the cost of 94 runs. Karnataka bowled out J&K for 390 in the second innings. The end was delayed thanks to a fighting ton by J&K skipper Ian Dev Singh.

Resuming at the overnight 189 for 4, Ian Dev Singh and Abdul Samad started the day on a positive note, looking to nullify the daunting task ahead of them.

Ian (110r, 188b, 4*15, 6*2) was up to the challenge for most part of the day. Giving the captain able support was Samad (70r, 78b, 4*6, 6*5), who scored at will with 80 per cent of his run coming from boundaries. The six he hit over the bowler’s head to get to fifty had disdain written all over it. The two looked sold in their 143-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Just when the State players were beginning to get worried over the outcome of the match, K Gowtham showed his magic to send both of them back to the pavilion. The wily spinner got Samad to edge one on its way to the keeper, and trapped Ian in front of the wickets.

Though Parvez Rasool (46r, 63b, 4*6) and Abid Mushtaq (43r, 35b, 4*5, 6*3) put up a sound rearguard show, scoring 70 runs in 10 overs for the 8th wicket, Karnataka wrapped up the match after the duo fell to Prasidh’s pace. The pacer brought up the victory when he shattered timber to a ball Umran Malik was clueless about.

Karun Nair bagged the Man of the Match award for scoring more than 50 per cent of his team’s runs in the first innings and remaining unbeaten on 71 in the second.

With the win, Karnataka moved to the top of the table with nine points from two matches. They play their last league match against Puducherry from March 3-6 in Chennai.

Brief scores: Karnataka 302 & 298 for three declared beat Jammu and Kashmir 93 & 390 in 98.5 overs (Fazil Rashid 65, Ian Dev Singh Chauhan 110, Abdul Samad 70; Prasidh Krishna 4/59, Shreyas Gopal 4/155).