Rest of India hold advantage

Rest of India held a slight edge over Karnataka at stumps on the second day of the five day Irani Trophy tie at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. After bowling out the home team for 170, Rest of India scored 93 for three off 37 overs at close of play.

Resuming at 65 for two, Karnataka lost wickets at regular intervals. First to go was Naidu who was bowled by Kumaran for five. Arun Kumar, the other overnight batsman who had opened the innings on Friday, and had batted steadfastly was finally out at 80, when he was adjudged leg before to Kumaran for 30. The medium pacer from Tamil Nadu, continuing his fine spell, had Sriram leg before in his next over and Karnataka had slid to 81 for five. The collapse did not stop for at 96, Kumble was caught by Kulkarni off Reetinder Singh Sodhi for one.

Shiraguppi, who was holding one end up firmly, was now joined by Srinath and the two got entrenched in the highest partnership of the innings - 34 runs for the seventh wicket. Kumaran then got his fourth wicket when he had Srinath caught by Laxman for 12. The recovery of sorts continued with Shiraguppi and Yalvigi adding 25 runs for the eighth wicket. At 155, however Shiraguppi's fighting innings of 42 came to an end when he was caught by Kotak off Reetinder Singh Sodhi. Shiraguppi had faced 107 balls and hit four boundaries and a six. Sodhi then brought the innings to a quick end by dismissing Yalvigi (23) and Ganesh in successive overs. Kumaran (4 for 47) and Sodhi (4 for 33) shared the bowling honours while Harvinder Singh Sodhi who had taken both the wickets on Friday, finished with two for 46.

When Rest of India batted, Javagal Srinath gave Karnataka an early breakthrough when he bowled VVS Laxman in his third over. But Haldipur and Das steadied the innings with a second wicket stand of 60 runs off 20 overs before the latter was caught by Somasundar off Ganesh for 23. Das faced 68 balls and hit two of them to the ropes. In the next over, Yalvigi bowled Haldipur for 40. Haldipur faced 75 balls and hit four boundaries. Rest of India were now 69 for three but Badani and Kotak batted through till stumps, both having made 12 runs.