UP need 278 runs, K'taka 9 wickets away from victory

Uttar Pradesh came back strongly to keep their hopes alive for an interesting finish as they needed another 278 runs with nine wickets in hand to register an outright victory over Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy quater-final at Chinnaswamy stadium, here today.
Batting first, Karnataka had scored 349 all out in the first innings with the help of Robin Uthappa, Karun Nair and Chidambaram Gautam's centuries.
In reply, UP declared their innings at 221 for nine and their bowlers came back strongly to skittle Karnataka for 204 in their second innings.
At the draw of stumps on Day Three, UP were 55 for one with Tanmay Srivastava and Ali Murtaza batting on 23 and 2, respectively.

Instead of resuming on their overnight score, visiting captain RP Singh gambled to declare the first innings and dealt early blows to Karnataka, who were left tottering at 73 for five in their second essay.
UP did extremely well to pick the first innings centurions - Uthappa (0), Nair (25) and Gautam (36)- cheaply, which shattered Karnataka's gumption to set up a difficult target for visitors to chase.

Lokesh Rahul, who has 869 behind him in eight matches this season, was the only exception who gave a strong reply to UP's bowling attack, but missed his chance to score his third century of the season by eight runs.

Rahul achieved the rare distinction of carrying his bat through against a spirited UP bowling attack, especially leg-spinner Murtaza who claimed six wickets.
Rahul stitched a crucial 63-run partnership and highest in Karnataka's second innings, along with Gautam for sixth wicket, bringing a sense of respectability to the hosts' score.
After Gautam's departure, the lower-order batsmen failed to give ample support to Rahul and the hosts lost last five wickets for the addition of 63 runs.