Ranji Trophy: Karnataka fancy outright win against Haryana

Karnataka need 364 runs to register an outright win in their Group A Ranji Match against Haryana, who declared their second innings at 262 runs for nine on day three here.

At stumps on Day Three, Karnataka were nine without loss with openers Robin Uthappa, batting on zero and India opener K L Rahul on nine.

Batting first, Karnataka posted 221 all out in first innings, and in reply Haryana scored 331, gaining a lead of 110 runs.

After conceding first innings lead to Haryana, Karnataka will not be wanting to lose vital points and instead would look for gaining maximum points by registering an outright victory.

Karnataka Captain Vinay Kumar and the think-tank will be hoping that the two seasoned campaigners, Uthappa and Rahul, first lay a solid foundation, and then go after the bowling, if situation demands.

Looking at the match so far, as many as 29 wickets have fallen in three days, which suggests it would be a tough ask for Karnataka to get to the victory line.

Resuming their overnight score of 27 for no loss with 137-run advantage, Haryana surged to 262 for nine declared, with lot of explantion to be done to fans for why Captain Virender Sehwag came out to bat at number seven, especially after he had cracked a wonderful 136 in the first innings, while batting at number three.

Though Karnataka felt the absence of H S Sharath, who is down with flu, the hosts did well to keep visiting batmen under check. They first removed Rahul Dewan (19) early on, but Nitin Saini (52) and Chiatanya Bishnoi (33) addede 61 runs for the second wicket.

Leggie Shreyas Gopal scalped Saini's wicket a few overs before lunch, a session where Haryana scored 84 runs in 38 overs.

After the fall of Saini, Haryana kept losing wickets regularly, without any of the batsmen able to get a big partnership.

Haryana lost three quick wickets between the score of 103 to 116, leaving the score at 116 for four in 53.1 overs.

Consequently, Haryana struggled to hold the fort, but Sehwag came to the party and smashed a quickfire 40 off 36 balls with four boundaries and a six, leaving Karnataka to get 373 runs for a win.

The chief-wrecker was Gopal who claimed four wickets for 53 runs and David Mathias along with Vinay Kumar, both scalped two wickets each.

Left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith snapped up one wicket for 57 runs.