Seamers help Karnataka take Day 1 honours in Ranji final

New ball colleagues R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun wrecked Mumbai with seven scalps between them as Karnataka stole the opening day's honours in the Ranji Trophy final at the Gangotri Glades in Mysore on Monday.

Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer was left to rue his decision to bat first. Vinay Kumar (4/61) and Abhimanyu Mithun (3/56) led the rout as the 38-time champions folded for 233 in their first innings.

In reply, Karnataka were 15 for one at stumps, having lost skipper Robin Uthappa (9) to Dhawal Kulkarni in the fourth over of their innings.

K B Pawan (2) and night-watchman Vinay Kumar (2) were at the crease at close of play.

Mumbai could have been dismissed for a smaller total but for a gutsy 67 by Vinayak Sawant and useful contributions from Ramesh Powar (23), Iqbal Abdulla (30) and Dhawal Kulkarni (20).

Coming in at the fall of Omkar Khanvilkar (25), Sawant batted with admirable gumption to reconstruct a shattered innings, with Mumbai reeling at 106 for six at one stage.

He mixed aggression with caution to raise 127 invaluable runs in the company of the lower order batsmen. Karnataka were made to sweat and fret as long as he was at the wicket for 281 minutes.

Earlier, Vinay Kumar, who took his season's tally to 43, struck three crippling blows to have Mumbai staggering.

The talented seamer dismissed Sahil Kukreja (0), skipper Jaffer (3), who was brilliantly caught at short leg by Ganesh Satish, and Ajinkya Rahane (14) in a trice.

Vinay used the conditions to good effect, extracting bounce and movement of the hard and bouncy surface. Today's performance should have surely impressed national selectors Narendra Hirwani and Surendra Bhave, who watched the proceedings under balmy conditions.

Mumbai recovered through a stodgy 64-run partnership between Khanvilkar (25) and Nayyar (37), but the return of Abhimanyu Mithun broke Mumbai's spine.

Two express deliveries from this season's bowling sensation sent back Khanvilkar and Nayyar who were in good nick until then.

It was left to Sawant to lend respect to the Mumbai innings in association with Powar and Abdulla, who fell to an outstanding over-head catch at first slip by Amit Verma off Vinay.

Sawant himself fell to a superb catch at backward point by Manish Pandey to give Sreenath Aravind his only wicket of the match.

If Mumbai strike back and restrict Karnataka to a sub-300 total, the title could be anybody's on this sporting deck.

Scorecard

Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja c Gautam b Vinay Kumar 0
W Jaffer c Satish b Vinay Kumar 3
A Rahane c Gautam b Vinay Kumar 14
OJ Khanvilkar b Mithun 25
A Nayar b Mithun 37
VR Samant c Pandey b Aravind 67
A Agarkar run out 6
R Powar c Pawan b Mithun 23
Iqbal Abdulla c Amit Verma b Vinay Kumar 30
D Kulkarni c & b Joshi 20
A Salvi not out 0
Extras: (B-1, LB-3, NB-4) 8
Total: (all out in 79 overs) 233

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-20, 4-84, 5-100, 6-106, 7-143, 8-184, 9-229, 10-233.

Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 20-6-61-4, A Mithun 14-1-56-3, S Aravind 17-5-48-1, S Binny 7-3-11-0, S Joshi 14-4-33-1, Amit Verma 6-1-13-0, R Uthappa 1-0-7-0.

Karnataka (1st innings):
K B Pawan batting 2
R Uthappa c Jaffer b Kulkarni 9
R Vinay Kumar batting 2
Extras: (NB-2) 2
Total: (for 1 wicket in 7 overs) 15

Fall of wickets: 1-10.

Bowling: A Agarkar 3-1-5-0, D Kulkarni 3-0-10-1, A Salvi 1-1-0-0.