Karnataka eye first win of season

BANGALORE: After three successive poor innings with the bat, two of which led to their first ever loss to Odisha, the Karnataka batsmen finally came to the party.
Almost to a man, the talented but vastly underperforming unit chose the occasion well. Seemingly down and out after being bowled out for 192 in the first essay, having chosen to bat at that, the batsmen, given a second chance by their bowlers who restricted Delhi's lead to 66, seized it in style to enable their side declare their second innings at an imposing 475 for nine.
Set a near improbable 410 to get in the last innings, Delhi stuttered their way to 40 for 3 at stumps at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday.
On Tuesday, the final day of the four-day clash, the visitors will need to either bat out 90 overs to retain the three points they gained for the first innings lead or score the remaining 370 runs to pull off an incredible win.
A charged-up Karnataka, in sight of their maiden victory in the season, and one that will keep them in contention to advance and possibly stave off relegation, will not make it easy by any means. Yes, there was a period in the morning when three wickets fell with the total stationary on 167, this after Robin Uthappa had departed very early on Day Three, adding just a mere four to his overnight 77, when Karnataka looked vulnerable again.
But in Stuart Binny and Manish Pandey, the hosts first found the men to take charge. Then came CM Gautam, skipper Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun to rub it in, forcing Delhi to all but throw in the towel.
Handicapped as it is by Ashish Nehra bowling a mere three overs on the day - he was off the field with an alleged strain for a long time and when he finally came back on it was only to loiter around --- Delhi had no answer as Binny (85, 161m, 100b, 9x4, 4x6) and Pandey (61, 155m, 106b, 7x4, 1x6) made mincemeat of their attack.
The combination of typically exquisite strokeplay from Binny, who took special liking to India U-19 left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra, hammering all four sixes off him, and the unorthodox but highly effective methods of Pandey brooked no answer from the Delhi bowlers.
Once the fifth wicket duo was done with the 196-ball 145-run stand, one that put Karnataka ahead by 246 and provided the safety net, Gautam (71, 115m, 94b, 9x4), Vinay (30, 57m, 37b, 4x4) and last man out Mithun (52, 47m, 50b, 4x4, 2x6) took over.
No bowler was spared, not even Parvinder Awana, who after a five-over spell that fetched two wickets in the morning, was used sparingly, possibly in an effort to keep him fresh for the Nagpur Test. The second new ball, taken after 81 overs, was greeted with glee as Karnataka grew from strength to strength.
It finally boiled down to the timing of the declaration as Karnataka simply could not afford to play it too safe, languishing as they are at the bottom of the points table in Group B.