“The wicket was flat,” Vinay pointed out while rueing several missed catches on Saturday’s penultimate day. “We didn’t help our cause by dropping too many catches yesterday. On this wicket you needed to grab those chances. Having said that, it was a great effort from our bowlers. We never gave up the cause at any point,” he remarked.

After managing just two wickets in the first two sessions on the final day, Karnataka turned the heat on the home team bagging wickets in a clutch.

“We tried to get some (reverse swing) in the second session but it didn’t happen. That’s what I stressed to my bowlers that we can either get wickets at regular intervals through the day or get all the 10 wickets in the final session. I thought we could have pulled it off, but we have a lot of positives to take from this game.

“Our batsmen did well despite having to bat in the difficult conditions on the opening day  (KB) Pawan and Stuart (Binny) were particularly impressive. As a bowling unit we once again proved our might. Even towards the end of the final day we were getting the ball to carry and bounce which augurs well for the season,” he explained.