Mohali: Skipper R Vinay Kumar led from the front with a five-wicket haul, his 20th in first-class cricket to bowl out Maharashtra for 163 in their final Group B league encounter at the IS Bindra Stadium, on Wednesday.
At stumps on the opening day, Karnataka with two debutants in opener Arjun Hoysala and off-break bowler Pavan Deshpande, were 67 for the loss of Hoysala’s wicket, as he fell for nought to the red-hot Anupam Sanklecha, who has a bag of 41 wickets from seven matches and counting.
Vinay, on the other hand, who pulled up injured after just 2.3 overs in the season opener before missing the next two, has come back recharged and has been hugely impressive with 21 sticks from four games before this.
The 32-year-old sent the opposition in and took over after Stuart Binny fetched them the breakthrough. Save for an opening stand of 42 between Swapnil Gugale (25) and Rohit Motwani (32), Maharashtra, in need of a big win here to hope for a knockout berth, were destroyed by Vinay, as he picked up 5-46.
In a sense of deja vu, Abhimanyu Mithun, back in the XI, pulled up after just two deliveries raising concern over his fitness but S Arvind (2-32) and Binny (2-40) ensured Maharashtra were dismissed cheaply.
In reply, Karnataka were off to the worst start as Hoysala departed to Sanklecha’s fifth delivery before Ravikumar Samarth (33 batting) and M Kaunain Abbas (30 batting) guided them without any further damage.
Karnataka, meanwhile will have to do without the services of Manish Pandey, who has been drafted into the Indian squad for the fourth Test beginning in Mumbai on the morrow.
SCOREBOARD
Maharashtra (I innings): Swapnil Gugale c Gautam b Binny 25, Rohit Motwani c Deshpande b Binny 32, Naushad Shaikh b Vinay 3, Kedar Jadhav b Vinay 8, Ankit Bawne c Deshpande b Arvind 0, Chirag Khurana c Abbas b Vinay 16, Rahul Tripathi c Abbas b Arvind 8, Anupam Sanklecha lbw Vinay 13, Mohsin Sayyed c Binny b Deshpande 12, Nikit Dhumal (n.o.) 5, Pradeep Dadhe c Gautam b Vinay 16. Extras (b14, lb10, nb1) 25 Total (all out; 56 overs) 163
FoW: 1-42, 2-45, 3-56, 4-59, 5-82, 6-97, 7-113, 8-142, 9-142
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 17-6-46-5, S Arvind 14.4-4-32-2, A Mithun 0.2-0-0-0, S Binny 15-5-40-2, K Gowtham 7-2-11-0, Pavan Deshpande 2-0-10-0
Karnataka (I innings): Arjun Hoysala b Sanklecha 0, Ravikumar Samarth (batting) 33, M Kaunain Abbas (batting) 30. Extras (b4) 4
Total (for 1 wit; 19 overs) 67
FoW: 1-0
Bowling: A Sanklecha 7-1-24-1, N Dhumal 5-2-15-0, P Dadhe 5-1-13-0, M Sayyed 2-0-11-0
