Bihar batsman M.S. Dhoni hits a boundary on the third day of the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Nov. 19: Staging a comeback, Bihar put up a brave front today against visitors Karnataka on the third day of the Ranji Trophy match.

The hosts, who were struggling hard to save themselves from an innings defeat till yesterday, set a modest target of 144 runs for the visitors to win the match.

Starting from 78 for 4 this morning, Bihar scored 331 before they were all out.

At the end of the day, Karnataka needed 56 runs to win the match with eight wickets in hand.

Bihar skipper Rajiv Kumar and Manish Kumar started off from 31 and 13 respectively to play some good shots. They took the score to 160.

Rajiv scored 67 runs before Barrington caught him off Bhardwaj’s ball. Manish played a responsible innings to score 59.

He was given leg before wicket off a Sunil Joshi delivery.

Moinak Sengupta, who was the next man, could add only four runs before Tilak Naidu caught him. The sixth wicket fell at 160.

However, there was more problem in store for the visiting team after M.S. Dhoni came to the crease.

He, along with bowler Sumit Panda, displayed some fine shots much to the elation of cricket lovers assembled at Mecon stadium.

The duo took the score to 291. Dhoni looked set to score a century, but offered a catch to Bhardwaj off the bowling of Sunil Joshi.

He scored 93. Panda also played confidently and contributed 71 runs before falling prey to Joshi.

The team scored 331 in 105.5 overs, While Akhil proved to be the most successful bowler for Karnataka by claiming four wickets, Ganesh, Bhardwaj and Joshi took two wickets each.

Karnataka, though confident, began their innings with great care sensing that a small mistake could have a bearing effect on their winning prospects.

Despite that, they lost two wickets.Skipper Arun Kumar was out for 20 and Shyam Ponappa scored 38.

At the end of the third day, the team was 88 for 2.

Spinner Shahid Hussain bagged both the wickets.

Ronald Barrington at the crease on 19 and Bhardwaj not out at 5.

Karnataka has to play with care tomorrow as the ball could swing in the early hours of the day.

Scores:

Bihar (first innings)114 all out and (second innings) 331 all out

Karnataka (first innings) 302 all out and (second innings) 88 for 2.