Mumbai thrash Karnataka by an innings

It is not very often that the reigning champions lose a match by an innings and 74 runs with more than a day to spare. But that was the ignominous defeat that Karnataka suffered at the hands of Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Monday.

Mumbai, oft crowned champions in the National competition, had dominated from the first day itself but hardly anyone would have expected Karnataka to cave in so meekly. If they were outplayed over the first two days, little went right for the home team on the third day. In the morning Jatin Paranjpe, 93 overnight, reached his century and was then out for 107. He faced 189 balls and hit 15 fours. The last two batsmen Nilesh Kulkarni (19) and Abhey Kuruvilla however added 55 runs off 13.2 overs to take Mumbai's total to 391 and swell their lead to 182. Kuruvilla was very much the dominant partner and hit four fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 37 for which he faced 48 balls. Sunil Joshi who took the last wicket finished with a haul of five for 126.

Karnataka's second innings was a disaster from start to finish. Kuruvilla, in his first over, sent back the consistent Arun Kumar and that was virtually the beginning of the end. Only two batsmen, opener Mithun Beerala (34) and Dodda Ganesh (26) reached double digits as Kannan (2 for 34) and Kuruvilla (5 for 32) ripped through the batting. Joshi, who was hurt, did not bat and the best stand was the 35 runs that Ganesh and Mansur Ali Khan (9 not out) put on for the ninth (last) wicket. Thanks to this association, Karnataka were able to top the three figure mark and ultimately totalled 108. It was a most impressive start by Mumbai who picked up eight points.