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Bharadwaj misses century

India's new hero Vijay Bharadwaj cracked a swashbuckling 96 and put on 115 runs for the fourth wicket with V S Thilak Naidu as Ranji champions Karnataka took a 20-run first innings lead over New Zealand on the penultimate day of the three-day match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore today.

Karnataka applied closure at 269 for nine after New Zealand had declared at its overnight score of 249 for six..

In the second innings, New Zealand were 12 without loss from six overs, with Matthew Horne on nine and Matthew Bell on two.

Karnataka collapsed after a sound start and were tottering at 74 for three at lunch before the fourth wicket pair thrashed the New Zealand attack and helped the home team to recover. For Karnataka, opener J Arun Kumar was the other batsman to shine. He made 31. Medium pacer Christ Drum (2 for 19), spinner Paul Wiseman (three for 99) and Chris Cairns (2 for 30) were the successful bowlers for New Zealand.

Anil Kumble obviously delayed the declaration to enable Bharadwaj complete his century. Bharadwaj, who batted for 230 minutes, offered a catch in the deep while trying to clear Wiseman. In his 96, he hit 16 boundaries from the 171 balls he faced.

UNI