Ranji Trophy: Karnataka fire opening salvo

CHENNAI: Vinay Kumar helped Karnataka grab the opening day honours as his figures of 6 for 34 - which included a hat-trick - helped the side bowl out Mumbai for a modest 173 in their Ranji Trophy quarter-finals clash in Nagpur on Thursday. In reply, Karnataka were motoring along nicely with 115 for 1 off 29 overs. In-form Mayank Agarwal (62 batting) and K Abbas (12 batting) were in the middle at stumps.
On a wicket that had some juice on it, Karnataka won the toss and made first use of the conditions.It took just 6 deliveries for Vinay Kumar to start the slide for Mumbai. He got rid of Prithvi Shaw (2), caught at slips by Karun Nair to leave Mumbai at 6 for 1. Vinay's next victim - Jay Bista (2) - too fell in a similar fashion as he was caught by Karun off Vinay. Mumbai had slipped to 7 for 2 before Vinay bagged his hat-trick off the very next ball - trapping Akash Parkar (0) leg-before. In the first 2.2 overs, Karnataka had raced ahead in the contest.
Vinay wasn't done though as he continued to bowl with a lot of purpose and venom. Vinay never allowed the batsmen to breathe easy and by the end of the 12th over, half of the Mumbai side was in the pavilion with just 40 on board. With each passing over, the former Ranji champions were sinking further. The only semblance of fightback came towards the very end when Dhawal Kulkarni (75, 9x4, 2x6) added 70 for the 10th wicket with Shivam Malhotra (7, 1x4) as Mumbai finished with a below-par total on board. Dhawal's 132-ball essay gave some respectability to Mumbai's total on a day when nothing went in their favour.
For Karnataka, Vinay stood out with his nagging line and length and was well-supported by Arvind Sreenath (2-45), K Gowtham (1-31) and Mithun (1-31).
Brief scores: Mumbai 173 (Dhawal Kulkarni 75, Vinay Kumar 6 for 34) vs Karnataka 115 for 1 in 29 overs (Mayank Agarwal 62 batting)