Bangalore, April 21: J Arun Kumar blasted his fifth century of the season to nullify, to a great extent, the 75-run lead Madhya Pradesh took against defending champions Karnataka on the third day of the five-day Ranji Trophy final at M Chinnaswamy stadium today.Nothing could stop Arun from taking command en route to his 10th Ranji hundred. Arun and the ever reliable Vijay Bharadwaj, have put on 153 in their unbeaten stand for the third wicket, and Karnataka are now in a position to force the issue.The duo's effort had taken Karnataka to 209 for two (71 overs) at the end of the day despite the negative approach adopted by the visitors after they took the lead. Karnataka now lead by 134 runs and if they can score briskly tomorrow, Madhya Pradesh face serious problems on a turning track.Arun Kumar (104; 293m, 200b, 7x4) and Bharadwaj (61; 205m, 158b, 4x4) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.Earlier, medium pacer D Ganesh took care of the tail, scalping three of the four Madhya Pradesh wickets to fall today. Ganesh's sixth five-wicket haul of the season resulted in MP, 339 for six overnight, being restricted to 379.Karnataka did not have things their way when they began their second essay. They had lost two wickets before they evened the visitors' advantage. Opener Sujith Somasundar was the first to depart after he and Arun had added 46 runs. Skipper Chandrakant Pandit did not waste time in bringing on his trump cards - Rajesh Chauhan and Narendra Hirwani. The tactic worked as Hirwani was induced Sujith to edge behind. Karnataka, continued the experiment of sending Somashekar Shiraguppi at the No 3 slot, but once again, the batsman failed to prosper. He fell to Chauhan's turn and bounce, edging to short leg.The afternoon belonged to Arun-Bharadwaj duo. Stroke making was difficult as the MP spinners exploited the helpful wicket. Chauhan and Hirwani bowled to a plan which made run-making a difficult proposition. Pandit shuffled his bowlers, and set different field patterns. But Arun and Bharadwaj stood the test well.Just after Arun reached his half-century with a single, Bharadwaj from the other end celebrated his partner's feat by pulling Hirwani to the mid wicket fence.Though the bowlers stuck to the leg-stump line, Arun and Vijay swept them fine for a couple of boundaries which made Pandit to revert to his medium pacers - Harvinder Singh Sodhi and JP Yadav. Both of them were ineffective.Arun slashed the third ball of the last over of the day, bowled by Yadav, to the third man fence to bring up his hundred.Incidentally, Arun also completed 900 runs in the current season.ScoreboardKarnataka (1st innings): 304Madhya Pradesh (1st innings, overnight 339-6): CP Sahu c Vijay b Yalvigi 45, JP Yadav c Arun b Mansoor 3, Santosh Sahu c Vijay b Ganesh 130, D Bundela run out 79, Abbas Ali lbw Ganesh 31, C Pandit lbw Ganesh 10, Raja Ali lbw Bharadwaj 7, HS Sodhi c Shiraguppi b Ganesh 6, R Chauhan c Naidu b Ganesh 2, M Majithia not out 14, N Hirwani c Shiraguppi b Joshi 19. Extras (b8, nb22, w3): 33. Total (all out in 100 overs, 433 mins) 379.Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-110, 3-273, 4-275, 5-289, 6-319, 7-342, 8-344, 9-345.Bowling: Ganesh 30-2-103-5 (nb23, w1), Mansoor 15-3-57-1 (w2), Akhil 1-0-8-0, Joshi 34-4-113-1, Yalvigi 13-1-72-1, Bharadwaj 7-1-18-1.Karnataka (2nd innings): S Somasundar c CP Sahu b Hirwani 25, J Arun Kumar batting 104, S Shiraguppi c Ali b Chauhan 3, Vijay Bharadwaj batting 61. Extras (b2, lb11, nb3): 16.Total (for two wickets, 71 overs, 293 mins): 209.Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-56.Bowling: Sodhi 8-0-30-0, Yadav 12-5-24-0, Majithia 17-4-39-0, Chauhan 17-1-51-1, Hirwani 17-1-52-1.
