'We can bounce back'

A batting debacle has put Karnataka in a precarious situation and now the Vinay Kumar-led side have no option but to post a win here to make it to the last eight. Despite the poor show, Karnataka’s batting coach J Arun Kumar defended his batters, saying it was a case of exceptional fast bowling that did his team in.

“Most of our batsmen got out to very good deliveries. Our batters didn’t throw their wickets away and it was just a case of quality fast bowling from Maharashtra,” said Arun.

Ahead of the third day, Arun said his bowlers can turn it around and give Karnataka a decent total to chase. “We want to bowl them out as quickly as possible. The first session is crucial and we will try hard to get them all out within 100-120. We are looking at a target somewhere between 120-150. We have done the hard work to get four wickets in their second innings and I feel our bowlers will use the new ball to good effect and do well tomorrow as well.”

Maharashtra’s Anupam Sanklecha, with figures of four for 58, was a delighted man and the 33-year-old said that the team’s plan was to go hard at Karnataka. “We knew that if we give easy runs to a strong batting line up Karnataka, they will punish us. So we wanted to attack from the start and our plan worked.”

Speaking about an ideal target to defend for Maharashtra, Anupam said: “We will be eyeing a target of more than 200 and with our skipper Jadhav (Kedar) and Tripathi (Rahul) at the crease, I believe we will be able to achieve it.”