Rahul Dravid rediscovered some wonted batting form with a typically solid and unbeaten knock of 77 to help Karnataka reply strongly in the second innings after the visitors conceded a big lead to holders Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy Elite Division Group A at the Wankhede stadium on Monday.
Dravid, who occupied the crease for 209 minutes and faced 178 balls, struck ten fours and two successive sixes off his first innings conqueror Ramesh Powar as Karnataka made 195 for one, after trailing Mumbai by 142 runs in the first innings.
In the morning the home team, overnight 302 for seven, lost their remaining three wickets to the second new ball taken late last evening for the addition of 35 runs and were all out for 337 after batting for 11 overs.
Dravid, omitted from the Indian one-day team for the first two matches against Pakistan, put on 126 runs for the unbroken second wicket with opener K B Pawan who dropped anchor to remain unconquered on 76 in 302 minutes with seven fours and a six.
Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar tried to break the stubborn partnership, which came in 55.4 overs, but to no avail and at stumps the visitors were 53 runs ahead of the hosts with a day left in the four-day tie.
Pawan and fellow-opener Barrington Rowland (40) made a good start with a stand of 69 runs which was later taken advantage of by Dravid, who made 40 in Karnataka's meagre first innings tally of 195.
Earlier, all the three Mumbai wickets that fell in the first session were captured by medium pacer Vinay Kumar.
Scorecard
Karnataka 1st innings: 195
Mumbai 1st innings
S Kukreja c Naidu b Aiyappa 66
W Jaffer b Aiyappa 55
A Rahane lbw b Joshi 0
A Muzumdar lbw b Kumble 23
P Naik run out (Vinay Kumar) 78
A Nayar lbw b Joshi 24 29 18
R Powar c Raghu b Joshi 10
A Agarkar lbw b Vinay Kumar 24
V Samant c Naidu b Vinay Kumar 24
I Abdulla lbw b Vinay Kumar 18
R Verma not out 1
Extras (b 2, lb 3, nb 9) 14
Total (all out; 96 overs; 397 mins) 337
Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-121, 3-125, 4-173, 5-217, 6-231, 7-274, 8-306, 9-331, 10-337
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 21 6 50 3, NSC Aiyappa 16 3 60 2, B Akhil 12 1 45 0, A Kumble 24 2 90 1, S Joshi 20 1 67 3, C Raghu 3 0 20 0
Karnataka 2nd innings
BM Rowland b Verma 40
KB Pawan not out 76
R Dravid not out 77
Extras (nb 2) 2
Total (1 wicket; 77 overs) 195 (2.53 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-69 (Rowland, 21.2 ov)
Bowling: Agarkar 11 2 34 0, Verma 12 4 29 1, A Nayar 11 1 38 0, Powar 21 4 66 0, I Abdulla 19 7 22 0, Rahane 1 0 1 0, Naik 2 0 5 0
