Karnataka placed themselves in a position of considerable strength atthe end of the first day’s play against Goa in the KSCA Coca Cola Cup(under-25) tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore onWednesday

Partab Ramchand27-Sep-2000Karnataka placed themselves in a position of considerable strength atthe end of the first day’s play against Goa in the KSCA Coca Cola Cup(under-25) tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore onWednesday. After dismissing Goa for 158 runs, the hosts replied with61 for no loss at stumps.Winning the toss and opting to bat, Goa ran into trouble early whenopening bowler Sunil Kumar dismissed both openers Nilosh Mulkar (0)and H Nityananand (19). with only 38 runs scored. Kapil Angle (33) andAmit Jadhav (21) then shared a third wicket partnership of 36 runs off8.3 overs. Both fell in quick succession and Goa were again shakilyplaced at 78 for four. Gourish Phadte (42) and S Prasanth (13) revivedtheir hopes somewhat with a fifth wicket stand of 31 runs off 17.2overs. But the later order succumbed meekly before the bowling of GVRavi, who finished with five for 36 off 20.4 overs. Phadte, who topscored, faced 129 balls and hit five of them to the ropes. Coming inat 74 for three, he was ninth out at 151.Karnataka openers V Pramod (39) and Shyam Ponappa (19) consolidatedthe good work done by the bowlers as Karnataka raced to within 97 runsof the Goa total by stumsps off 18 overs. Pramod, much the dominantpartner, has hit six boundaries while Ponappa has hit two.