Johnson wrecks Wills cruise, guides Karnataka into semis

Khoda and Dani enjoyed charmed lives, Khoda being dropped by Beerala at long on and Dani getting a reprieve from Sujith Somasunder at extra cover.Johnson removed Khoda, Gyanendra Pandey and Jadeja in a four-over spell that saw Wills XI crash from 135 for no loss to 165 for five. No 5 Pravanjan Mullick (33 n.o., 45b) played sanely but he ran out of partners. The Wills XI total, that once looked set to cross 275, eventually ended at 215, in 49 overs.

Karnataka’s start was poor but a 58-run third wicket association between opener J Arun Kumar (41: 63b, 5×4) and Thilak Naidu (71: 109b, 5×4) put their innings back on the track. During their 16-over stand,they hammered Jadeja for 23 runs in four overs. Naidu, around whom the Karnataka batting revolves, found another able ally in Somasekhar Siraguppi (35, 39b, 3×4, 1×6). Both the wicket-keeper batsmen took Karnataka’s total from 84 for four to 160 with a 76-run partnership.

They fell in quick succession, and Karnataka were reduced to 185 for seven. But Johnson and Dodda Ganesh added 24 runs for the ninth wicket to see them through.

Scoreboard
Wills XI: Gagan Khoda b Johnson 55, Ashu Dani run out 65, Virender Sehwag c Akhil b Ganesh 1, Ajay Jadeja c Akhil b Johnson 14, Pravanjan Mullick not out 33, Gyanendra Pandey b Johnson 1, Manoj Mudgal run out 14, Preetam Gandhe lbw Ganesh 0, Rahul Sanghvi b Mansoor Ali Khan 9, Amit Bhandari lbw Mansoor Ali Khan 0, Robin Sing (Jr) run out 1. Extras (lb 4, nb 6, w 12): 22. Total (all out in 49 overs): 215
Fall of wickets: 1-135, 2-137, 3-142, 4-160, 5-165, 6-186, 7-187, 8-214, 9-214
Bowling: Ganesh 9-0-38-2, Mansoor Ali Khan 5-0-18-2,Johnson 10-1-42-3, Akhil 10-1-35-0, Katti 10-1-59-0, Yalvigi 5-1-19-0

Karnataka: Arun Kumar run out 41, M Beerala lbw Robin Singh (Jr) 3, Sujith Somasunder lbw Sanghvi 2, Thilak Naidu c Khoda b Robin Singh (Jr) 71, B Akhil c sub (Madanagopal) b Sanghvi 6, Somasekar Shiraguppi b Sanghvi 35, Anand Yalvigi run out 9, David Johnson not out 16, Dodda Ganesh c & b Sehwag 8, Anand Katti not out 5. Extras (lb 6, nb 2, w 12): 20. Total (for 8 wickets, 38 overs): 216
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-19, 3-77, 4-84, 5-160, 6-181, 7-185, 8-209
Bowling: Robin Singh (Jr) 10-1-40-2, Bhandari 9-1-43-0, Sanghvi 10-2-34-3, Jadeja 4-0-23-0, Gandhe 6-0-27-0, Pandey 7-0-28-0, Sehwag 2-0-14-1