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Rest of India win Irani Trophy

Fiery pace bowling by T Kumaran (six for 39) and Harvinder Singh Sodhi (four for 41) saw Ranji champions Karnataka crash to an innings and 60-run defeat against Rest of India, which regained the coveted Z R Irani trophy after a gap of five years.

Requiring 151 to make Rest of India bat again, Karnataka produced a spineless display and were shot out for a paltry 91 in just 178 minutes, with more than a session and a day's play left. Rest of India thus etched its name on the trophy for the 13th time in 37 editions, having been joint winners with Mumbai once.

Resuming at their overnight score of 298 for six, Rest of India were earlier all out for 321 in reply to Karnataka's 170.

Karnataka played badly on a pitch which offered little assistance to the bowlers. Tamil Nadu medium pacer Kumaran and Madhya Pradesh speedster Harvinder Singh had the home team batsmen in all sorts of problems. Kumaran, who returned with his career-best figures, finished the match with a rich haul of 10 for 86. His previous best was six for 56.

Facing an unenviable task of avoiding an innings defeat, Karnataka started ominously, losing opener J Arun Kumar (6) in the third over, gangling speedster Harvinder Singh drawing first blood when the score was just 7. Arun Kumar, who returned from England after a successful County season, was taken by Hemang Badani.

A Vijay and opener Sujith Somasundar looked set to perform the rescue act as they put on 32 runs for the second wicket. However, Somasundar edged Harvinder into the hands of Nayan Mongia when on 14 and the side's total 39. Karnataka never recovered from the loss and thereafter lost wickets at regular intervals. But for 31-run partnership for the last wicket, between Javagal Srinath (27), who top scored, and Anand Katti, the home team would have been bundled out for less than 83, the lowest ever total in the Irani Trophy.

Earlier, Rest of India added just 23 runs to the overnight score, losing all the four wickets to Srinath. Karnataka leg spinner Anil Kumble, aiming for a return to the Indian squad, ended up wicketless as all the five selectors watched the proceedings during the last two days.

Scoreboard

Karnataka (1st innings): 170
Rest of India (1st innings):
Nikhil Haldipur b Anand Yalvigi 40
V V S Laxman b J Srinath 1
Shiv Sundar Das c S Somasundar b D Ganesh 23
Hemang Badani c S Somasundar b J Srinath 13
Sitanshu Kotak lbw J Srinath 118
Nayan Mongia c S Somasundar b D Ganesh 1
Reetinder Singh Sodhi c A Katti b A Yalvigi 39
Harvinder Singh Sodhi lbw J Srinath 55
Ananthpadmanabhan b J Srinath 10
Nilesh Kulkarni not out 0
T Kumaran c S Somasundar b J Srinath 4
Extras (b-6, lb-9, nb-2) 17
Total: 321
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-67, 3-69, 4-107, 5-110, 6-190, 7-302, 8-316, 9-317, 10-321.
Bowling: Srinath 34.3-12-77-6; Ganesh 30-10-59-2; Kumble 26-04-86-0; Yalvigi 29-06-50-2; Katti 7-02-19-0; Sriram 4-00-15-0.

Karnataka (2nd innings):
Sujith Somasundar c Nayan Mongia b H S Sodhi 14
J Arun Kumar c Hemang Badani b H S Sodhi 6
A Vijay c Nayan Mongia b T Kumaran 15
V S Thilak Naidu c S S Das b H S Sodhi 1
K Sriram lbw T Kumaran 3
Somashekara Shiraguppi c T Kumaran b H S Sodhi 7
Anand Yalvigi c Hemang Badani b T Kumaran 0
Anil Kumble c Nayan Mongia b T Kumaran 2
J Srinath lbw T Kumaran 27
D Ganesh c S S Das b T Kumaran 0
Anand Katti not out 8
Extras (lb-6, nb-2) 8
Total: 91
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-39, 3-41, 4-42, 5-49, 6-49, 7-53, 8-56, 9-60, 10-91.
Bowling: H S Sodhi 16-4-41-4; T Kumaran 14.5-2-39-6; R S Sodhi 3-0-05-0.

UNI