Kartik delivers coup de grace, misses out on perfect 10

With Mumbai fighting with their backs to the wall, Kartik delivered the coup de grace in just over an hour on the fourth morning returning figures of 24-6-70-9 a match haul of 13 wickets for 143 runs. The bowler, who plays for Railways missed out on the chance to achieve a perfect 10, but became only the second in Irani Cup history to reach the mark following former India captain Ravi Shastri, who had taken 9-101 for Rest of India against Delhi in 1980-81.

Off-spinner Sharandeep Singh threw a spanner in Kartik’s works as he dismissed last man Santosh Saxena to wrap up the Mumbai second innings for a poor 184.

Left to score 56 for victory, Rest raced to the target in 7.5 overs with Sadagopan Ramesh striking the winning hit and the party could begin even before the luncheon interval.

Resuming at 145-5, Mumbai lost whatever little resistance they had as Kartik continued his demolition almost like a bulldozer. He steamrolled his gangling deliveries and except for Amol Muzumdar, who hit three boundaries before edging Kartik to Laxman at slip, no one could prolong Rest’s march to glory. In the process, Rest retained the Trophy (last year they defeated Karnataka) they had won 15 times since the Trophy’s inception in 1959-60. They were also joint winners once with the then Bombay in 1965-66.

Scoreboard
Ã?Mumbai (1st Innings): 260
Rest of India (1st innings): 389
Mumbai (2nd Innings; overnight 145-5):
Vinayak Mane c Sharandeep Singh b Kartik (129m, 89b, 4×4) 37
Wasim Jaffer c Nehra b Kartik (146m, 84b, 11×4) 50
Kiran Powar c Kaif b Kartik (47m, 39b, 5×4) 24
Amol Muzumdar c Laxman b Kartik (120m, 92b, 5×4) 37
Nishit Shetty c Martin b Kartik (7m, 5b) 0
Sameer Dighe c Laxman b Kartik (15m, 9b, 1×4) 4
Paras Mhambrey c Kaif b Kartik (31m, 21b) 2
Ramesh Powar c Martin b Kartik (32m, 25b, 3×4) 17
Rajesh Pawar c Das b Kartik (32m, 25b, 3×4) 17
Nilesh Kulkarni Not Out (10m, 7b) 1
Santosh Saxena c sub (Sodhi) b Sharandeep Singh (4m, 1b) 0
Extras: (lb3, lb5) 8
Total (all out in 62.1 overs, 281 mins) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-89 (Mane), 2-94 (Jaffer), 3-118 (Powar), 4-123 (Shetty), 5-135 (Dighe), 6-145 (Mhambrey), 7-157 (Rajesh Powar), 8-175 (Muzumdar), 9-184 (Ramesh Pawar).
Bowling: Ganesh 15-4-50-0, Nehra 8-3-17-0, Shukla 4-0-20-0 (2nb), Kartik 24-6-70-9 (3nb), Sharandeep Singh 11.5-5-24-1.
Rest of India (2nd Innings):
Shiv Sunder Das Not Out (35m, 29b, 5×4) 34 Sadagopan Ramesh Not Out (35m, 18b, 5×4) 24
Total: (for no loss, in 7.5 overs, 35 mins) 58
Bowling: Mhambrey 4-0-18-0, Saxena 1-0-8-0, Kulkarni 2-0-23-0, Pawar 0.5-0-9-0.
Result: Rest of Inda won by 10 wickets.