They proved that again in an emphatic manner on a sunny Thursday, trouncing Baroda by an innings and 102 runs.
After their abject surrender in the first innings, which ended at 158, Baroda were expected to show a little more resistance while following-on. But Karnataka displayed amazing belief and hunger for success while blowing away the hosts’ batsmen like rotten leaves on the third day of the Group B encounter at the Motibaug grounds.
Required to score 335 to avoid an innings defeat, Baroda’s innings ended at 233 for nine with Rakesh Solanki, suffering a ligament injury, unable to bat in the second innings.
Karnataka, who are already in the quarterfinals, garnered six points from this tie, swelling their overall tally to 23 from five games with a match against Saurashtra to go.
The trend for the Baroda second innings was set when A Mithun snaffled Azhar Bilakhia and soon his partner R Vinay Kumar pushed the hosts to a wobbly seven for two, jettisoning Satyajit Parab.
The twin dismissals brought the experienced campaigners – Connor Williams and Jacob Martin – together, and the duo displayed the kind of adhesive quality that made them feared adversaries till a few years ago. Williams offered barn door of a bat to anything the Karnataka bowlers threw at him, while Martin executed some powerful drives square of the wicket, adding 54 runs for the third wicket.
Special effort
It required a special effort to snap the burgeoning alliance. Skipper Robin Uthappa introduced himself into the attack and the move seemed a bit superfluous as the frontline bowlers were operating in good rhythm. But Uthappa sent Martin back, and then he netted the big fish, Yusuf Pathan, with the very next delivery.
Yusuf’s tentative prod off the first ball he faced ended in the hands of CM Gautam, who had an impressive time behind the wicket, grabbing five catches across two innings.
Vinay, who bagged six wickets in this match, gave marching orders to Connor Williams soon as Baroda slipped to 106 for six. Karnataka were in sight of a quick victory at this point but they had to wait till 29 minutes after tea for their meeting with the desired result as Irfan Pathan (81, 106m, 79b, 14x4) played the role of a lone-ranger to perfection. The left-hander, who had also made a fifty in the first innings, displayed tremendous timing to carve his second fifty of the match.
The junior Pathan had a very subdued outing with the ball in this match, often spraying the ball around and struggling to test the batsmen.
But with the bat the Baroda man was a treat to watch, reeling out shots to all part of the park. The task in front of him was certainly a tough one but he went about his job in a confident fashion, even smashing the in-form A Mithun around.
Ketan Panchal and Irfan frustrated Karnataka for nearly two hours while adding 48 runs for the seventh wicket. The annoying alliance ended when S Arvind breached the defence of Irfan, and with his dismissal, Baroda’s last bastion too was breached.
Score board
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 488
BARODA (I Innings, O/n: 137/9): Irfan Pathan b Mithun 68 (79m, 65b, 7x4, 4x6); Rakesh Solanki (not out) 0 (14m 3b); Extras (B-2, LB-7) 9; Total (all out, 39.4 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 9-137 (Munaf).
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 13-4-30-3, A Mithun 11.4-1-61-4, S Arvind 10-2-27-2, Sunil Joshi 5-0-26-1.
BARODA (II Innings): Connor Williams c Gautam b Vinay 35 (161m, 107b, 3x4); Azhar Bilkahia c Binny b Mithun 2 (13m, 10b), Satyajit Parab lbw Vinay 0 (3m, 2b); Jacob Martin c Binny b Uthappa 0 (3m, 2b); Yusuf Pathan c Gautam b Uthappa 0 (1m, 1b); Pinal Shah c Gautam b Arvind 6 (16m, 14b, 1x4); Ketan Panchal c Gautam b Mithun 25 (98m, 67b, 4x4); Irfan Pathan b Arvind 81 (106m, 79b, 14x4); Murtaja Vahora b Vinay 13 (64m, 37b, 3x4); Munaf Patel (not out) 8 (6m, 4b, 1x4) 0b); Rakesh Solanki (did not bat); Extras (B-8, LB-11, NB-2, W-12) 33; Total (for 9 wkts, 60.1 overs) 233
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Bilakhia), 2-7 (Parab), 3-61 (Martin), 4-61 (Yusuf), 5-74 (Pinal), 6-106 (Williams), 7-154 (Panchal), 8-224 (Irfan)
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 15.1-2-47-3, A Mithun 11-2-42-2, S Arvind 13-3-44-2 (w-10, nb-2), Stuart Binny 10-0-39-0, Robin Uthappa 7-1-22-2 (w-2), Sunil Joshi 4-1-20-0.
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