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| Rahul Dravid watches the match after his dismissal |
Mumbai: Beleaguered former India captain Rahul Dravid’s hope of a big score was dashed as Ramesh Powar snared him for 40 before completing his five-wicket haul to leave Karnataka reeling at 189 for nine on the day I of their four-day Elite Division Ranji Trophy match Saturday.
Dravid, out of the Indian one-day squad for the first two ties against Pakistan after a string of low scores against Australia in the recent home series, came to the crease in the first over itself, batted doggedly for 137 minutes before being caught in the leg trap off a sharply turning Powar ball.
Dravid’s 49-run stand in 21.4 overs with C. Raghu (31) steadied the Karnataka ship after the visitors, choosing to bat first, were gasping at 23 for the loss of openers Barrington Rowland (0) and K B Pawan (11), who were sent back by Ajit Agarkar in a fine first spell of eight overs.
But once Dravid fell, Mumbai took the upper hand with Powar utilising the under prepared track very well.
Karnataka, 97 for five at one stage, ended the day at a more healthy 189 for nine with allrounder Bhalchandra Akhil doing some fine rearguard action with a fighting, unbeaten knock of 53 in 140 minutes with seven fours.
Akhil, who cut well of the back foot, and wicket keeper Thilak Naidu, who made 33, did the repair job with a 48-run sixth wicket stand to pull Karnataka out of the deep rut.
At stumps Akhil and last man N C Aiyappa (1) were at the crease, the former having faced 119 balls.
Powar picked up five for 69 while Agarkar got two for 24.
Meanwhile, in Cuttack, rookie medium-pacer Sudeep Tyagi sliced through Orissa’s batting capturing six wickets for 46 as the hosts crumbled to 216 all out in their Elite group B match against Uttar Pradesh at the Barabati Stadium on Saturday.
SUMMARISDED SCORES
In Agartala: Services 102 (Devendra Israni 46; Jayanta Debnath 4/13). Tripura 93/2.
In Ahmedabad: Gujarat 228 (D. Popat 63, Parthiv Patel 49; Krishna Das 4/73, S. Suresh 4/46). Assam 56/4 (A. Makda 2/13).
In Amritsar: Andhra Pradesh 294/6 (H. Watekar 137, MSK Prasad 51; Gagandeep Singh 3/28) vs Punjab
In Chennai: Maharshtra 261/3 (H. Khadiwale 126, YV Takawale 52 batting) va Tamil Nadu.
In Cuttack: Orissa (SS Das 75, P. Jayachandra 55; S. Tyagi 6/46). Uttar Pradesh 84/3 (SS Shukla 35 batting).
In Dharamsala: Saurashtra 262/6 (C. Pujara 64; A. Thakur 3/62) vs Himachal Pradesh.
In Jamshedpur: Madhya Pradesh 100/4 (Jatin Saxena 69 ..) vs Jharkhand.
In Mumbai: Karnataka 189/9 (B. Akhil 53, Rahul Dravid 40; Ramesh Powar 5/69) vs Mumbai.
In Nagpur: Kerala 169 (Preetam Gandhe 4/53) vs Vidarbha. (PTI)
