President’s rule in Vizag

Left-handed opener Jyoti Yadav (56: 82b, 117m, 6×4) and Nilesh Modi (51: 83b, 109m, 2×4) steadied the innings with a 97-run stand for the fourth wicket before both fell within the space of six overs.

Bangar entered and took charge. His 50 came off 54 balls with only two fours. In the end, there was a flurry of big shots along withthe company of Gokulkrishnan, who too played a sweet knock of 33 (20b, 1×6, 3×4). The two virtually pulled the match away from Karnataka with a 63-run partnership in 39 balls for the eighth wicket.

Ganesh, after his fine opening spell, was erratic and so was David Johnson. Karnataka conceded 87 runs in the last 10 overs.

Under fine batting conditions, Karnataka needed a good start. Arun Kumar and Mithun Beerala added 48 runs in 12.2 overs before the rot set in.

Medium-pacer Kumaran sent Beerala’s off stump for a walk in his seventh and final over of the first spell. That turned out to be a disaster for Karnataka as Murali, who replaced Kumaran, struck with his first ball by shattering Arun Kumar’s stumps and then removed dangerman Thilak Naidu by having him caught at silly point two overs later.

Karnataka did not have the ammunition to wage any battle. Murali, after his first spell of 6-3-7-2, returned to take two more wickets to give his side a comfortable victory.

Scoreboard

BoardPresident’s XI: Shiv Sundar Das c Shiraguppi b Ganesh 0, Jyoti Yadav b Yalvigi 56, Mohd Azharuddin c Johnson b Ganesh 0, Sridharan Sriram c Akhil b Mansoor 13, Nilesh Modi c Ganesh b Johnson 51, Sanjay Bangar not out 71, Ashish Kapoor c Shiraguppi b Mansoor 17, Vijay Dahiya run out 1, Gokulkrishnan c Somasunder b Ganesh 33, Karthik Murali run out 0, Thiru Kumaran not out 1. Extras: (lb4, w13, nb2) 19, Total: (for 9 wkts, in 50 overs) 262
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-20, 4-117, 5-144, 6-184, 7-186, 8-249, 9-249
Bowling: Ganesh 10-0-60-3, Mansoor 10-0-61-2, Johnson 10-1-55-1, Yalvigi 10-0-41-1, Katti 10-0-41-0

Karnataka: Arun Kumar b Murali 26, Mithun Beerala b Kumaran 21, Sujith Somasunder run out 38, Thilak Naidu c J Yadav b Murali 1, Somasekhar Siraguppi c Bangar b Sriram 22, Anand Yalvigi c & b Murali 28, Balachandra Akhil st Dahiya b Murali 0, Dodda Ganesh c&b Kapoor 3, David Johnson c Das b Kapoor 0, Anand Katti not out 7, Mansoor Ali Khan run out 0,Extras: (b 1, lb 11, w 5, nb 2): 19. Total: (all out in 40.4 overs) 165
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-51, 3-53, 4-92, 5-142, 6-144, 7-158, 8-158, 9-159
Bowling: Kumaran 7-2-25-1, Gokulkrishnan 8-0-33-0, Bangar 7-1-25-0, K Murali 8.4-3-17-4, Kapoor 6-0-24-2, Sriram 4-0-29-1