Nagpur, Dec 7 (PTI) Skipper R Vinay Kumar led from thefront with some devastating bowling and picked up a six-wickethaul including a hat-trick to help Karnataka bundle out Mumbaifor 173 in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final that began heretoday.
Kumar, who made most of the conditions which aidedpace bowling after inserting Mumbai in on winning the toss,returned with impressive figures of 6 for 34, including thehat-trick completed in two overs, as 41-time champions Mumbaicrumbled in only 56 overs on day one of the five-day match atthe VCA Stadium in Jamtha.
To continue their domination, Karnataka replied with115 for 1 by stumps, as they placed themselves 58 runs adriftof Mumbai with their in-form opener Mayank Agarwal unbeaten on62 in 83 balls with M Abbas (12 not out) for company.
Karnataka, who topped Group A, are all set to take thefirst innings lead.
Kumar also became the third bowler to complete ahat-trick against Mumbai, the other two being BKalyanasundaram for Tamil Nadu in the 1972-73 Ranji final andRaghuram Bhat for Karnataka in the 1981-82 season.
He became the sixth bowler to take a hat-trick in theknock-out stage of the national championship, the last one toachieve the distinction being S Sen Sharma for Bengalagainst Delhi in the pre-quarter final of the 1993-94 season.
Kumar wreaked havoc on the Mumbai batting line-up ashe removed young and in-form opener Prithvi Shaw (2), edgingto first slip Karun Nair, with the last ball of his first overwith the score on 6.
Then with the first ball of his next over, hedismissed the other opener Jay Bista (1) in a similar fashion,and then completed his hat-trick by trapping Akash Parkar (0)in front of the wicket to reduce Mumbai to 7 for 3.
Kumar later scalped Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar andKarsh Kothari to complete his devastating spell.
Mumbai were struggling at 74 for 7 before medium pacerDhawal Kulkarni, who came in to bat at number nine,counter-attacked with a knock of 75 in 132 balls, to take histeam beyond the 150-run mark.
Kulkarni struck nine fours and two sixes. The onlyother notable contribution came from seasoned Herwadkar (32off 75 balls).
Siddesh Lad, Mumbai's crisis man this season, also wasout cheaply for 8 while skipper Aditya Tare's poor run withthe bat continued as he fell for 4.
Kumar was well supported by Sreenath Arvind (2-45) andAbhimanyu Mithun (1-31).
Scores: Mumbai 173 all out (Dhawal Kulkarni 75, AkhilHerwadkar 32; R Vinay Kumar 6-34) v Karnataka 115 for 1(Mayank Agarwal 62 not out, M Abbas 12 not out). PTI NRB SSRKRK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.