Published: Jan 31, 2014, 02:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 08, 2014, 08:42 PM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
Hyderabad: Jan 31, 2014
Maharashtra fought back in the afternoon session of Day Three of their Ranji Trophy 2013-14 final against Karnataka at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. At tea, Karnataka are 414 for five and are leading by 109 runs. Although Karnataka have the advantage, Maharashtra did strike back with three wickets in the session.
Resuming the session at 343 for two, Karnataka lost Robin Uthappa early for 72 as he chased a widish delivery from Shrikant Mundhe and spooned a catch to Rahul Tripathi, the substitute fielder at point. Even then, Manish Pandey continued the battle, although the scoring rate was slow.
Pandey was trying to charge to the spinners and take them on. Things were going smooth and Karnataka were looking good to steal the game completely.
However, Samad Fallah came intot he attack and started moving it a touch. He first trapped Pandey after coming from round the wicket, with a delivery that came into the batsman. Later, CM Gautham checked his shot and offered a return catch to Fallah.
That livened up the game a bit as the contest was majorly one-sided. In the afternoon session, Karnataka managed to score only 71 runs and lost three wickets.
Maharashtra had a bit of a scare as Anupam Saklecha turned his ankle on the boundary. He did return to the field later and resumed bowling.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 305 trail Karnataka 414 for 5 (Robin Uthappa 72, KL Rahul 131, Ganesh Satish 117; Samad Fallah 2 for 70, Shrikant Mundhe 2 for 79, Chirag Khurana 1 for 91) by 109 runs.
