Indian left arm spinner Sunil Joshi (4 for 38) and seamer Dodda Ganesh(4 for 46) ran through the weak Assam batting line-up to helpKarnataka to a seven wicket win on third day of the five day RanjiTrophy pre-quarterfinal at the Nehru stadium in
Staff Reporter12-Mar-2001Indian left arm spinner Sunil Joshi (4 for 38) and seamer Dodda Ganesh(4 for 46) ran through the weak Assam batting line-up to helpKarnataka to a seven wicket win on third day of the five day RanjiTrophy pre-quarterfinal at the Nehru stadium in Guwahati on Monday.Karnataka batsmen then accomplished the task in 35.2 overs whilelosing three wickets in the process.Resuming at 310 for nine, Karnataka added just two more runs as JavedZaman bowled NA Khan off the third ball of the day. With a lead ofnine runs, Assam made a disastrous start in their second inningslosing both openers PK Das (15) and SB Saikia (4) with the scorereading 19 in the seventh over. Das was the first to be dismissedcaught behind by VST Naidu off MA Khan, while Saikia was caught behindoff Ganesh. Assam skipper Zakaria Zuffri (12) and S Ganesh Kumar (50)took the score to 46 before the former became Joshi’s first victimwhen Anil Kumar caught him.The next over, the 18th of the innings bowled by Ganesh, saw Assamsuffer a double setback. Off the third ball of the over Ganesh sentback R Borah (0) and two balls later the former Tamil Nadu left armspinner Sunil Subramaniam joined him in the pavilion. There was notmuch left for Assam after that even as Sukhvinder Singh (26) waged alone battle. It was only a matter of time before the innings folded upand in the 39th over of the innings the inevitable happened.Set to score 144 for a win, Karnataka made a shaky start when theylost opener J Arun Kumar (11), run out in the third over. His partnerMithun Beerala (14) followed in the 12th over with the score at 44.Beerala was caught by Ghosh off Ganesh Kumar. Then the former Indianbatsman Vijay Bharadwaj (41) and B Akhil (51) took the score to 93.Bharadwaj was sent back at this stage, caught by Samant off SukhvinderSingh. With only a handful of runs to get, Akhil and his skipper Joshihit off the required runs with consummate ease.