da wazamba： A stroke-filled 69 by opener J Arun Kumar and some timely rearguardaction by the seventh wicket pair of B Akhil and D Ganesh helpedKarnataka to score 231 for seven off 92 overs at stumps on the firstday of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league
Partab Ramchand22-Nov-2000A stroke-filled 69 by opener J Arun Kumar and some timely rearguardaction by the seventh wicket pair of B Akhil and D Ganesh helpedKarnataka to score 231 for seven off 92 overs at stumps on the firstday of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Kerala atthe Nehru stadium in Kochi on Wednesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka lost Mithun Beerala (8) and BarringtonRowland (5) with only 49 runs on the board. Arun Kumar and VijayBharadwaj (18) initiated a recovery by adding 54 runs for the thirdwicket off 18.5 overs. Arun Kumar, who had dominated the scoring sofar, left at this stage. He faced 129 balls and hit nine fours and asix.Arun Kumar’s departure triggered off a mini collapse. Bharadwaj whostruggled for 89 balls to get 18 with only one boundary hit, wasfourth out. He was followed by AR Mahesh (6) and wicketkeeper VSTNaidu (23) and Karnataka were suddenly struggling at 144 for six.Akhil and Ganesh however performed the rescue act with a seventhwicket partnership of 74 runs off 23 overs. The stand ended whenGanesh was run out for 41. He faced 74 balls and hit five fours and asix. Akhil remained unbeaten with 45 at close, having faced 94 ballsand hitting four of them to the ropes. Keeping him company was skipperVenkatesh Prasad (2).