Ranji Trophy final: Ganesh Satish's century helps Karnataka gain control

Hyderabad, Jan 30 (IANS) A maiden first-class century from Ganesh Satish helped the six-time champions Karnataka seize the initiative after Maharashtra suffered a dramatic batting collapse in the first innings losing last five wickets for 33 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy cricket final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.

Satish remained unbeaten on 117 while Lokesh Rahul was on 94 as Karnataka made 230, and by the end of the day, they trail by just 75 runs with 10 wickets in hand.

Karnataka lost their opening batsman Robin Uthappa early for just 10 runs after he was retired hurt, but from then on, Satish and Rahul dominated the proceedings with their fine stroke-play.

It was in the fifth over that Uthappa was struck on his left elbow by a delivery from pacer Samad Fallah and was forced to retire hurt.

Satish and Rahul then took Karnataka to a position of strength with their massive 216-run unbeaten stand for the second-wicket. Satish struck 16 fours in his 207-ball knock for his maiden first-class ton while Rahul hit nine fours and a six during his 189-ball stay.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra suffered a batting collapse as six-time champions Karnataka wrested back the control.

Resuming at a comfortable 272/5, Maharashtra lost the first wicket without adding a single run to the overnight score. Ankit Bawne (89) was the first to go while his overnight partner Sangram Atitkar added 21 to his score before being out for 50.

It was a clinical performance by the Karnataka pacers, led by skipper Vinay Kumar, and they took just little less than an hour to bowl out Maharashtra. Vinay and his fellow pacers Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Aravind picked up three wickets each.