Kannan, Kulkarni land Mumbai opening day honours

Openers J Arunkumar (76; 206 mins, 171 balls, 13 fours) and Mithun Beerala (14; 86 mins, 3×4) gave a solid start adding 46 runs without any difficulty. But just when Karnataka seemed to be gaining the upper hand, Mumbai sprung the trap.

Medium-pacer Amit Dani bounced at Beerala whose impulsive hook went straight down the throat of the deep square-leg fielder. Immediately after, Sujith Somasundar who has just one fifty in the last 20-odd innings, was snaffled at sillypoint.

Mumbai now further spread the field to cut off the boundaries. This was the equivalent of flashing a red rag in front of this indisciplined batting line-up. The in-form Arunkumar tried to heave left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar against the spin but managed only to sky the ball. He was superbly caught at short mid-wicket by Amit Pagnis running back.

His dismissal completely shattered the home team. Skipper Sunil Joshi was made a virtual bakra. As soon as he walked in, the Mumbai spinners spread the field. A long-on, deep mid-wicket and deep square leg were all placed on the boundary line. Joshi simply had to take singles over the next 10 overs to frustrate the bowlers and fielders. But then being Joshi he lofted left arm spinner Rajesh Pawar straight into the hands of the deep mid-wicket fielder.

Medium-pacer Shriram Kannan then took over and ran through the tail. He bowled a line decidedly outside the off stump and the tailenders, going for flash off drives, all edged to be caught in theslips. It was the one of the most thoughtless exhibitions of batting seen in recent times on this venue.

A Vijay (41) played a lone hand and batted with plenty of poise before being last out.

Kannan, who bowled with seven fielders on the off side right through the day, came away with four wickets while Nilesh Kulkarni (three) and Rajesh Pawar (two) played a supporting role.

SCOREBOARD

Karnataka (1st innings): J Arunkumar c Pagnis b Pawar 76, Mithun Beerala c Pagnis b Dani 14, Sujith Somasundar c Paranjpe b Kulkarni 0, Barrington Roland c Kulkarni b Kannan 14, Thilak Naidu c Paranjpe b Kulkarni 20, A Vijay st Dighe b Kulkarni 41, Sunil Joshi c Jaffer b Pawar 14, Shiraguppi c Pagnis b Kannan 1, Anand Yalvigi c Kulkarni b Kannan 0, Dodda Ganesh c Mazumdar b Kannan 4, Mansoor Ali Khan not out 4. Extras: (b4 lb1, nb 16) 21. Total (all out in 81.4 overs, 324 mins) 209
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-46, 3-75, 4-141, 5-148, 6-171, 7-172, 8-172, 9-186

Bowling: Kannan 19-5-55-4,Kuruvilla 10-0-45-0, Dani 10-4-22-1, Kulkarni 17.4-6-41-3, Pawar 25-8-41-2

Mumbai (1st innings): Wasim Jaffer batting 6, Amit Pagnis batting 9. Extras: (nb 1, w 1) 2. Total: (for no loss in 7 overs, 34 mins) 17
Bowling: Ganesh 4-1-11-0, Mansoor 2-0-4-0, Joshi 1-0-2-0

Delhi vs Rajasthan: Rain
NEW DELHI: No play was possible on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match between Delhi and Rajasthan at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday. Friday’s heavy showers rendered the area around the wicket damp and slippery. Umpires B A Jamula and Suresh Shastri called off play at 3.45 pm after their fourth inspection of the wicket and adjoining areas.

DDCA groundsmen’s efforts late in the afternoon to dry the affected area by primitive method of making fire with the help of wood hardly helped matters. Although there was no further rain on Saturday, with the sun hardly coming out it was not possible to start the game.

Baroda…360-6 vs Bihar

BARODA:An innings of 125 by Tushar Arothe and half-centuries by Royapettah Swaroop (59) and Nayan Mongia (65) enabled Baroda finish the opening day of their Group B match against Bihar at 360 for six.

Brief scores: Baroda 360-6 (Royapettah Swaroop 59, Nayan Mongia 65, Tushar Arothe 125, Atul Bedade 49; D Kumar 4-114, M Divakar 2-93) vs Bihar

Hyderabad 16-0 vs Punjab
SAS NAGAR: Rain allowed only 32 minutes of play on the opening day of the Group B Punjab-Hyderabad match in which Hyderabad reached 16 for no loss.

The weather bureau do not see much improvement in the weather on Sunday.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 16-0 A Nanda Kishore batting 4, VVS Laxman batting 10) vs Punjab

TN 348-4 vs Saurashtra
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu were 348-4 at close on the opening day of their four-day match against Saurashtra in a Group C match here on Saturday.

TN lost opener Anand George on six, but the other opener Aashish Kapoor (59) added 69 runs with left-handed S Sriram.

Sriram was joined byHemang Badani and the two made a mockery of Saurashtra attack. Sriram’s narrowly missed his eighth Ranji century — 98, 213 m, 144 b, 12×4 — while Badani was out for 82 (117 balls, 6×4, 2×6).

The in-form batsmen Sridharan Sharath (58) and Madanagopal (18) were at the crease at close.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 348-4 (Aashish Kapoor 59, S Sriram 98, Hemang Badani 86, S Sharath batting 58; Hitesh Parsana 2-66) vs Saurashtra

Haryana-UP: No play
ROHTAK: Heavy overnight and early morning rains prevented play on the first day of the four-day Group C match between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh here on Saturday.

Umpires Samir Mandekar and A Gokhale inspected the ground at lunch and decided to abandon play for the day without a ball being bowled.

Rain was falling in the evening, threatening to wash out Sunday’s play as well.