Desai triggers dramatic Karnataka collapse to lead Gujarat to narrow win
Written by I Dig SportsGujarat 264 and 219 (Umang 57, Hingrajia 56, Koushik 3-16, Rohit 3-61) beat Karnataka 374 and 103 (Padikkal 31, Desai 7-42, Vaghela 3-38) by six runs
But Desai broke through with Agarwal's wicket in the tenth over, and then got rid of Padikkal and Nikin Jose in his next over. Suddenly, Karnataka were 56 for 3. Time wasn't the issue, and with the likes of Manish Pandey, R Samarth - who had opened in the first innings - and Shubhang Hegde to come, it wasn't a worrying situation yet.
Desai was on a roll, though. Pandey fell for a duck to become Desai's fourth victim, and he added Sujay Sateri and Vijaykumar Vyshak to his tally by the 18th over of the innings, leaving Karnataka tottering at 74 for 6.
The day had started well for Karnataka, as had most of the match till they got to 50 for no loss in their second innings. Gujarat, overnight on 171 for 7 - after having conceded a 110-run first-innings lead - were bowled out in 12.2 overs of action, adding 48 runs along the way. Those were critical in the end analysis.
The win lifted Gujarat to the top of the Elite Group C table, with two wins in two games giving them 12 points.