Gowtham spells doom for TN

Off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham’s eight-wicket haul in the second innings helped Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu by 26 runs on the fourth and final day of its opening Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ match here on Thursday.

Requiring 181 for victory after conceding the first innings lead, the home side was all out for 154. Tamil Nadu lost its final wicket when Gowtham trapped K Vignesh leg-before for four. It was a brilliant performance by the 31-year-old after Ravichandran Ashwin (4/46) had brought Tamil Nadu back into contention by picking up four wickets

Courtesy his haul, Karnataka was bowled out for 151 in the second innings. In the final innings, Tamil Nadu suffered a setback after a bright start to the chase. Openers Abhinav Mukund (47) and Murali Vijay (15) put on 49 runs in quick time, but the side lost three wickets in the space of four runs.

The run-out of Vijay by substitute fielder R Samarth sparked the slide as his quick pick-up and throw caught the experienced right hander short of his crease. The dismissals of Baba Aparajith (0) and R Ashwin (2), both leg-before to Gowtham, hurt Tamil Nadu. A lot depended on Mukund and first innings centurion Dinesh Karthik but the former went back to the pavilion after an enterprising innings.

He was caught by Karun Nair off Gowtham. Karthik was done in by a superb delivery from Gowtham to be bowled for 17. His exit and the fall of skipper Vijay Shankar (5), who was caught brilliantly by Ronit More, pushed Tamil Nadu into more trouble. Though the lower-order showed fight, Gowtham kept striking at regular intervals.

Earlier, Ashwin and K Vignesh got among the wickets to restrict Karnataka to 151. Resuming at 89 for five, the visitor lost BR Sharath for the addition of only four runs. At 119 for 7 and in danger of being bowled out for a below-par score, Karnataka found a saviour in Gowtham, who smoked two big sixes in his 22 (33 balls).

Brief scores: Karnataka 336 all-out and 151 all-out in 65.4 overs (D Padikkal 39, BR Sharath 29, R Ashwin 4/46, K Vignesh 3/31) beat Tamil Nadu 307 all-out in 109.3 overs (K Gowtham 6/110) and 154 all-out in 63.3 overs (A Mukund 42, M Ashwin 23*, K Gowtham 8/60). Points: Karnataka: 6; Tamil Nadu: 0.