Mohali: Karnataka regained their mojo in style, thumping Maharashtra by 10 wickets inside three days to not only shake off an inexplicable loss of form in the previous two games but also vault to the top of Group B with a bonus point to tally 37 from seven as they cantered to 39 without loss, in their final league encounter at the PCA IS Bindra stadium on Friday.
Having taken a big 150-run lead on the second day, Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar completed his half-century to go with a five-wicket haul as Karnataka, resuming at 313/9 were all out for 345.
In the red by 182 runs and having lost the opportunity to stay alive for a knockout berth by conceding the lead, the Maharashtra batsmen chose to go for big shots and succumbed to 218 with David Mathias, who replaced Manish Pandey after the latter was drafted into the Indian Test squad.
Medium-pacer Mathias picked up 3-37 even as Kedar Jadhav (85, 59b, 10x4, 2x6) launched an offensive more out of frustration than with any intent.
It didn’t last as all the seven Karnataka bowlers walked way with a scalp in their kitty, even debutant Pawan Deshpande, after a memorable half-century in the first innings, sealed the rout with his fourth delivery to get rid off last man Nikit Dhumal. Needing 37, R Samarth (25 n.o.) and M Kaunain Abbas (14 n.o.) knocked off the runs in 10 overs.
SCOREBOARD
Maharashtra (I innings): 163
Karnataka (I innings, O/n 313/9): R Vinay Kumar (n.o.) 56, S. Arvind lbw Khurana 11, Extras (b8, lb3, w1, nb2) 14
Total (all out; 110 overs) 345
FoW: 9-308
Bowling: A Sanklecha 32-6-78-3, N Dhumal 20-5-57-1, P Dadhe 26-3-98-2, M Sayyed 11-1-42-2, C Khurana 13-0-41-, R Tripathi 4-2-5-0, S Gugale 4-1-13-0
Maharashtra (II innings): Swapnil Gugale c Hoysala b Mithun 9, Rohit Motwani c Gautam b Vinay 9, Naushad Shaikh c Gautam b Binny 6, Kedar Jadhav c & b Mathias 85, Rahul Tripathi b Arvind 0, Chirag Khurana c Abbas b Mathias 28, Ankit Bawne c Samarth b Mithun 26, Anupam Sanklecha c Gautam b Mathias 14, Mohsin Sayyed c Hoysala b Gowtham 0, Pradeep Dadhe (n.o.) 7, Nikit Dhumal st Gautam b Deshpande 26. Extras (b4, w1, nb4) 9
Total (all out; 47.3 overs) 218
FoW: 1-17, 2-17, 3-79, 4-80, 5-139, 6-156, 7-178, 8-195, 9-185
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 9-0-51-1, A Mithun 7-1-44-2, S Binny 4-1-22-1, S Arvind 9-0-35-1, K Gowtham 8-2-21-1, D Mathias 10-0-37-3, P Deshpande 0.3-0-4-1
Karnataka (II innings, target: 37): R Samarth (n.o.) 25, M Kaunain Abbas (n.o.) 14.
Total (for no loss, 10 overs) 39
Bowling: A Sanklecha 5-0-21-0, P Dadhe 3-0-8-0, N Dhumal 2-0-10-0
Points: Karnataka: 7, Maharashtra: 0
