BANGALORE, February 6: Anil Kumble's 13th five-wicket haul in Ranji cricket enabled Karnataka to close all escape routes for Punjab, on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group `A' Super League fixture, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.In the morning, Kumble (44) ensured that Karnataka finished at a healthy 298 though the tail folded up faster than expected. Karnataka, 268 for seven overnight, lost all their wickets for 20 runs.Punjab's decline was swift once Ajay Mehra left. Rathore brought about his downfall when he drove distantly at Prasad to be caught behind for 18. And had Pankaj Dharmani been taken at slip by Prasad off Kumble, Punjab might have struggled to cross the 100 mark. Dharmani who was on eight then, made good the escape, scoring 32 and ensuring that Punjab also came within reach of avoiding the follow-on. Punjab, 74-2 at lunch, collapsed against Kumble and left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi. Kumble took five wickets for 51 runs in an unchanged spell while Joshi finished withthree for 27. Karnataka, having established a match-winning lead of 141 runs, increased the pressure through openers Sujith Somasundar and Arun Kumar who added 60 for the first wicket.SCOREBOARDKarnataka (1st innings): Sujith Somasundar c Dharmani b Harbajan 58, Arun Kumar c Mongia b Bhushan 10, Girish Rao lbw Harbajan 13, Rahul Dravid c Mongia b Harvinder 38, Vijay Bharadwaj c Manav Mehra b Harbajan 19, Fazal Khaleel c Rathore b Harvinder 35, Sunil Joshi run out 29, Anil Kumble c Ajay Mehra b Kapoor 44, Somashekar Shiraguppi c Saini b Kapoor 7, Srinath c Mongia b Kapoor 7, Venkatesh Prasad not out 2,Extras (b 17, lb 10, nb 11): 37.Total (in 102.4 overs): 298Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-89, 3-96, 4-118, 5-196, 6-197, 7-261, 8-285, 9-291Bowling: Harvinder 14-4-44-2, Bhushan 11-1-43-1, Kapoor 23.4-5-62-3, Vij 34-4-72-0, Harbajan 30-10-50-3Punjab (1st innings): Ajay Mehra c Rao b Joshi 14, Vikram Rathore c Shiraguppi b Prasad 18, Pankaj Dharmani cPrasad b Kumble 32, Mongia b Kumble 21, Saini b Srinath 8, Aashish Kapoor c Khaleel b Joshi 13, Manav Mehra c Srinath b Kumble 0, Harvinder c Dravid b Kumble 0, Bharati Vij b Kumble 16, Bharat Bhushan not out 13, Harbajan Singh b Kumble 0,Extras (b 5, lb 4, nb 12): 21,Total (in 46.5 overs): 157Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-43, 3-81, 4-92, 5-113, 6-120, 7-121, 8-122, 9-154Bowling: Srinath 11-2-39-1, Prasad 8-1-31-1, Joshi 13-5-27-3, Kumble 14.5-3-51-5Karnataka (2nd innings): Sujith Somasundar b Kapoor 42, Arun Kumar c Saini b Bharati Vij 23, Girish Rao batting 7, Rahul Dravid batting 10, Extras (nb 3): 3,Total (for two wickets, in 29 overs): 89Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-69Bowling: Harvinder 7-1-28-0, Bhushan 3-0-17-0, Harbajan 4-2-10-0, Kapoor 9-3-16-1, Vij 6-2-14-1
