HYDERABAD, April 13: Doddanarasaiah Ganesh may have bigger first-class knocks against his name, but none can match his unbeaten 18 that helped Karnataka script one of the most memorable victories in the 64-year old Ranji Trophy history. The India discard's thundering drive to the long-off fence off left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju signalled Karnataka's one-wicket victory over Hyderabad in an exciting semi-final at the Gymkhana here today. The four-time winners take on Uttar Pradesh in their tenth entry into the final beginning April 19 at Bangalore.In a tension-filled fifth day's play, Karnataka, requiring 154 for victory, nearly stumbled before clinching a short-head verdict as it were. There were wild celebrations in the Karnataka camp. Some of them, in their anxiety, ran onto the field even before the victory was achieved. And when Ganesh's hit scorched past the long off fielder, Karnataka players broke loose and hugged their heroes on the field and escorted them in. A little away from the Karnatakadressing room was one man who was almost in tears -- Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh. The 39-year-old Sardar had done everything in the unbearable hot conditions but, as luck would have it, ended up on the losing side. Kanwaljit finished with an incredible 14 wickets in the match, seven in each innings.
Daniel Manohar, fielding at short-leg, turned out to be the villain-of-the-piece. He spilled two catches at 146 and 148 in successive overs when Karnataka was gasping for dear breath. If he was slow to react to a lob from last man Mansoor Ali Khan off Raju, he let the ball slip through his hands off Kanwaljit. The lucky batsman then was Ganesh.
It was a great escape. The fielder was banished to the deep but by then the damage had been done. Ganesh, in the next over, trifled with luck in a more aggressive fashion. He cut Raju dangerously past the outstretched hands of M V Sridhar at slip to the third man boundary to level the scores. Then came the winning runs. The last wicket yielded 19runs.
Scoreboard
Hyderabad (1st Innings): 283
Karnataka (1st Innings): 309
Hyderabad (2nd Innings): 179
Karnataka (2nd Innings): Sujit Somasunder c Sridhar b Kanwaljit 17, J Arunkumar c&b Kanwaljit 23, Fazal Khaleel b Raju 51, Anand Katti c Nanda b Kanwaljit 2, Rahul Dravid lbw Kanwaljit 1, Vijay Bhardwaj b Kanwaljit 2, Sunil Joshi c Pratap b Yadav 24, Somasekhar Siruguppi c Sridhar b Kanwaljit 0, Srinivasa Murthy c Pratap b Kanwaljit 1, Dodda Ganesh not out 18, Mansoor Ali Khan not out 4;
Extras (b9, lb5) 14.
Total (for 9 wkts in 75 overs) 157
Fall of wickets:1-43, 2-48, 3-68, 4-78, 5-86, 6-117, 7-117, 8-127, 9-138
Bowling: NP Singh 8-3-14-0, Manohar 7-3-14-0, Kanwaljit 32-16-38-7, Raju 26-9-65-1, Santosh Yadav 2-0-12-1.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
