JOIN US Punjab were headed towards a mammoth victory after further tightening the noose around Karnataka’s neck in their Cooch Behar Trophy under-19 Elite ‘C’ match here on Tuesday.
Having already sown the seeds of victory following a blistering performance with the bat on Monday, Punjab bowlers rose to the occasion yet again as the hosts struggled to put up a fight on the third day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Overnight 467/5, Punjab batted for another 19 overs, eventually declaring their innings at 552/5 off 134 overs.
Trailing by a whopping 400 runs, Karnataka needed a strong showing in the second innings but that never came, the hosts finding themselves in deep trouble at 167/4 of 69 overs.
Opener Abhishek M Reddy was the lone saving grace, striking a fine 56 as other batsmen failed to build substantially after making decent starts. Barring a heroic show on the final day from the hosts, Punjab should walk away with the full honours.
DH News Service
Brief scores: Karnataka: 152 all out and 167/4 in 69 overs (Abhishek M Reddy 56, Rishab GM 35, Abhinav Manohar 34; Sidarth Sharma 2-47) vs Punjab: 552/5 decl in 134 overs (O/n: 467/5 in 115 overs) (Mandeep S Bawa 72, Anmol Preet Singh 168, Prabhjot Singh 113, Navneet Singh 31, Nikhil S Chaudhary 62, Karan S Kaila 64; Prasidh M Krishna 3-84, Bharath KN 2-99).