Ravi places Karnataka in command

Karnataka placed themselves in a position of considerable strength at the end of the first day's play against Goa in the KSCA Coca Cola Cup (under-25) tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday. After dismissing Goa for 158 runs, the hosts replied with 61 for no loss at stumps.

Winning the toss and opting to bat, Goa ran into trouble early when opening bowler Sunil Kumar dismissed both openers Nilosh Mulkar (0) and H Nityananand (19). with only 38 runs scored. Kapil Angle (33) and Amit Jadhav (21) then shared a third wicket partnership of 36 runs off 8.3 overs. Both fell in quick succession and Goa were again shakily placed at 78 for four. Gourish Phadte (42) and S Prasanth (13) revived their hopes somewhat with a fifth wicket stand of 31 runs off 17.2 overs. But the later order succumbed meekly before the bowling of GV Ravi, who finished with five for 36 off 20.4 overs. Phadte, who top scored, faced 129 balls and hit five of them to the ropes. Coming in at 74 for three, he was ninth out at 151.

Karnataka openers V Pramod (39) and Shyam Ponappa (19) consolidated the good work done by the bowlers as Karnataka raced to within 97 runs of the Goa total by stumsps off 18 overs. Pramod, much the dominant partner, has hit six boundaries while Ponappa has hit two.