R. Vinay Kumar's second six-wicket haul against Mumbai, including a hat-trick early on in the morning, meant Karnataka took firm control of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against domestic heavyweight Mumbai on the first day itself.
Thanks to Vinay's six for 34, Karnataka bundled up Mumbai for a paltry 173 on the cusp of tea.
An on-song Mayank Agarwal then combined with R. Samarth and Kaunain Abbas – who was drafted in the XI after D. Nischal injured his finger moments before toss – to help Karnataka end the opening day's proceedings at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium at Jamtha at 115 for one.
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Considering the early start – 30 minutes before the usual commencement factoring in the fading light – it didn't come as a surprise that Vinay opted to bowl the moment he won his seventh successive toss of the season. On a wicket suited for batsmen, early strikes was going to be the key to set the tone for the game.
Ranji Trophy Quarterfinals, Day 1: As it happened
And Vinay's accuracy, coupled with mistakes in plenty by the Mumbai batsmen, meant Karnataka got heaps of wickets in no time. He moved the last ball of the first over just a little bit after pitching it in the perfect channel to see promising Prithvi Shaw offering catching practice to Karun Nair in the cordon. The first ball of Vinay's next over was a virtual repeat with Jay Bista being the victim as Nair pulled off a stunning one-handed catch.
A panicked Mumbai camp then promoted Akash Parkar at No. 4, to see off the new ball and shield the middle-order but Vinay pitched the next one full to trap Parkar in front of the wickets and burst into celebrations for having achieved his second hat-trick.
At seven for three, Mumbai had pinned its hopes on the crisis man Siddhesh Lad to bail them out of trouble yet again. But Vinay got the ball of the morning to force him to nick it to the 'keeper. From 21 for four, Mumbai could never recover and were precariously placed at 90 for seven.
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Soon after lunch, Vinay changed ends and got rid of Akhil Herwadkar – who had held an end all through the first session – to complete his five-for and then added another by fetching an edge off Karsh Kothari's willow. At 103 for nine, Dhawal Kulkarni found an ally in debutante Shivam Malhotra.
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The duo's 70-run association over 83 minutes, with Kulkarni scoring freely against spinners K. Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal en route his third successive fifty, gave Mumbai some sort of a total.
But once the Karnataka openers saw off Kulkarni's opening spell, they scored virtually at will against the remaining four inexperienced bowlers, including two debutantes and the remaining two having shared eight first-class caps.
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