Dravid finds form in draw

Mumbai 337 (Naik 78, Kukreja 66, Jaffer 55) and 70 for 2 drew with Karnataka 195 (Akhil 57, Powar 5-69) and 397 for 6 dec (Dravid 214, Pawan 80)
Scorecard

Rahul Dravid found his true form on the last day of this match, hitting a double-century to guide Karnataka to a draw against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Karnataka made 397 for 6 at tea before declaring to set Mumbai a target of 256 in 32 overs, 17 of which had gone by before both captains settled on a draw.

Mumbai secured three points for their first-innings lead while Karnataka got one.

The wicket had baffled many: it offered great assistance on the first day, which Ramesh Powar exploited, and lost its venom as the moisture evaporated. Also, Karnataka were guilty of being overcautious in the first innings and conceded the vital lead to Mumbai.

Dravid said the regular fall of wickets didn't allow them to attack. "We kept losing regular wickets, lot of players in our team are quite young as well and it would have been a good education for them to play a quality attack."

The final day belonged to Dravid who blasted 137 runs from 152 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes. There were no big celebrations after he reached his hundred - off 213 balls - in the first session, with a dab to third man. He acknowledged his ton with a small raise of the bat towards the dressing room, then at the 50-odd spectators who'd bothered to turn up. He offered a similar reaction after bringing up his double hundred, in the second session, with a sweep to the square-leg boundary.

Dravid, while understandably happy, wished he had contributed more in the first innings. "It is satisfying to have played a innings that helped the team. It would have been better had I played a big knock in the first innings. To be honest 195 was never going to be enough, we needed at least 300 but credit to them. Ajit got couple of wickets early and Ramesh [Powar] bowled very well."

In an otherwise smooth innings, Dravid had three moments of concern: on 110, he survived a run-out chance when C Raghu called him for injudicious single but Wasim Jaffer didn't find the target from square leg; on 191 he checked a drive off a slower delivery from Abhishek Nayar, who spilled the return catch and on 198 another run-out chance went begging as Amol Muzumdar missed from cover.

Dravid started off with a fluent drive through covers off Iqbal Abdulla and continued to bat positively as the new ball was taken in the fourth over of the day. Dravid showed his full repertoire of strokes - there was a hook and a pull, two crashing drives over cover, a steer to third man, a leg glance, a cut and a few lofted drives against the spinners to the straight boundary. He hit three sixes too, sending the ball out of the ground on one occasion when he swung Abdulla over long-on.

Mumbai's bowlers could not keep him in check. Ajit Agarkar, who removed KB Pawan with a full-length delivery that took the edge off a loose drive, sent down a series of bouncers but Dravid went for the horizontal shots.

Ramesh Powar, introduced in the 20th over of the day, also didn't cause any major problems. Dravid, at times, went down the track or made room by going back and twice swinging him over the midwicket.

Raghu looked to get forward to play before he fell, under-edging a pull that wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant took sharply down the leg side. Encouraged by that wicket, Powar stuck to the middle and leg line, spinning into the hips, with a short leg and backward short leg in attendance, but could not break through.

Abdulla, who mostly bowled over the wicket aiming for the rough, picked up his first Ranji Trophy wicket in his 41st over of the match when Yere Goud scooped one to cover. Abdulla picked two more easy wickets as Karnataka went for quick runs before the declaration.

The bat continued to dominate in the second session before Dravid fell after facing 333 balls in 437 minutes to a tired pull shot off Abdulla to deep midwicket. He was one short of his highest Ranji score - 215 against Uttar Pradesh, 10 seasons back in a Ranji final.

When Mumbai batted the second time, Vinay Kumar removed Wasim Jaffer in an identical fashion to the first innings, cleaning up his off stump with an incutter as he was caught at the crease, and trapped Sahil Kukreja in front but the fate of the game was sealed by then.