da cassino： Karnataka comfortably overcame Andhra by five wickets in their SouthZone Ranji Trophy clash at Belgaum on Friday
Sankhya Krishnan17-Nov-2000Karnataka comfortably overcame Andhra by five wickets in their SouthZone Ranji Trophy clash at Belgaum on Friday. Skipper Arun Kumar andwicket keeper Thilak Naidu were the leading protagonists in therunchase as the hosts reached their target of 263 with over a day tospare. The win takes Karnataka’s tally to 16 points in the zonal tablewhile Andhra have 11, both from three games.Earlier in the day Andhra, carrying off from their overnight 189/8were dismissed for 206, five overs into the morning. Dodda Ganeshsnapped up both the wickets to fall, closing with figures of 5/59. Forthe second time in successive matches, Ganesh reaped an innings haulof five, after his 5/113 against Tamil Nadu last week.Karnataka openers Arun Kumar and Mithun Beerala put on 36 for thefirst wicket before Andhra surged back into the match with two quickwickets. The man who did the damage was off spinner YS Ranganath whosent back Beerala and Barrington Rowland in the space of two runs.Karnataka went in to lunch at 67/2.Arun Kumar and Sujith Somasunder proceeded to compile 78 for the thirdwicket, bringing Karnataka back in the reckoning. When off spinner HVatekar bowled Somasunder for 36 to leave Karnataka at 116/3, thematch had entered its decisive phase. Thilak Naidu joined the skipperfor another productive stand which yielded 62 and it was left to seambowler KS Sahabuddin to effect the breakthrough. He dismissed ArunKumar for the second time in the match but not before the Karnatakacaptain had made a priceless 82 (164 balls, 10 fours, 1 six).Naidu lost another partner in B Akhil but Dodda Ganesh proved to bemore than a match for the Andhra attack. The paceman slammed 30 (22balls, 6 fours) out of a 42-run unbroken sixth wicket stand to takeKarnataka, who were 56 runs behind on first innings, through withalmost seven overs to stumps. Naidu remained undefeated on 71 (109balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) as Karnataka finished on 265/5. This wasKarnataka’s 31st outright victory over Andhra in 45 games and theirsecond in two games at this venue.