Spinners Saransh Jain and Sagar Solanki took three wickets each as Madhya Pradesh secured a commanding 217-run victory over Karnataka on the fourth and final day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match
on Sunday.
Starting the day at 204 for six, MP declared their second innings at 229 for eight, setting a target of 362 runs for the hosts.
Off-spinner Jain (3/37) and left-arm spinner Solanki (3/20) dismantled the Karnataka batting order, bowling them out for 144 in their second innings.
Opener KV Aneesh, who scored 92 in the first innings, resisted with a 57 (142 balls) in the second innings.
The absence of injured Karun Nair hastened the downfall of the eight-time champions. Nair suffered a cut on the webbing between his left index and middle fingers and did not bat. Nikin Jose, serving as a concussion substitute, fought valiantly with a 101-ball 26 before being trapped in front of the wicket by Jain.
Jose and Shreyas Gopal added 61 runs in 27 overs, but once their partnership was broken, Karnataka collapsed from 76 for three in 35.4 overs to 77 for four in 36.2 overs.
The victory moved MP to second place with 22 points, while Karnataka (21 points) slipped to third. Maharashtra, who defeated Goa by eight wickets, climbed to the top of the table with 24 points.
Karnataka must now beat Punjab in their final league game at Mullanpur, starting January 29, to advance to the knockout stage, with Saurashtra (19 points) also in contention in Group B.
Brief Scores:
At Alur: Madhya Pradesh: 323 and 229/8 declared in 75.1 overs beat Karnataka: 191 and 144 all out in 67.5 overs (KV Aneesh 57; Saransh Jain 3/37, Sagar Solanki 3/20) by 217 runs.
At Pune: Goa: 209 all out and 248 all out lost to Maharashtra: 350 and 109/2 in 21.1 overs (Arshin Kulkarni 52 not out) by 8 wickets.
(With PTI Inputs)
