Irani Cup: Karnataka heap misery on Rest of India

BANGALORE: Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka flexed their batting muscle to further pile misery on a clueless Rest of India team at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
Powered by CM Gautam who waded with aplomb into the Rest bowling and helped himself to a commendable Irani Cup century, Karnataka, after running up a mammoth 405-run lead, reduced Rest to 114 for three at stumps.
The third day's play was always going to be a challenge to the motley group that comprised the Rest team, particularly after they had been outplayed on the first two days. Barring medium pacer Pankaj Singh (6 for 122), none of the others had anything to show for their efforts today.
The bowlers, including experienced spinners Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh, were put to the sword by Gautam who came up with a number of innovative strokes that would have done an IPL batsman proud. He swept, reverse swept, glanced, nudged and pulled the bowlers with abandon during his knock of 122 (168b, 17x4, 1x6).
Karnataka squeezed every run they could to rattle up an imposing total of 606. By close Rest were all but beaten.
Opener Gautam Gambhir was brilliantly caught in slips while Jiwanjyot Singh who looked unsure against the moving ball was trapped in front by Vinay Kumar. Kedar Jadhav succumbed to leg spinner Shreyas Gopal's teasing flight.
Rest, 291 runs in arrears at close, will require exceptional batting from their remaining batsmen if they are to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat on the morrow.
Brief scores: Rest of India 201 & 114/3 (Kedar Jadhav 44, Baba Aparajith batting 42; Vinay Kumar 2/27) vs Karnataka 606 in 145 ovs (CM Gautham 122, Binny 112; Pankaj Singh 6/122).