Karnataka debutant picked up 11 wickets, including a hat-trick on the last day; UP lose by 185 runs
DNA Correspondent. Bangalore
Abhimanyu Mithun completed a fantastic first class debut by not only picking up 11 wickets in a match but also completing a hattrick on the final day to lead Karnataka to an outright victory against Uttar Pradesh by 185 runs in Meerut.
Mithun picked up the wickets of Piyush Chawla, Amir Khan and RP Singh in successive deliveries to pave the way for the victory. Mithun, who took five wickets in the second innings, ended the match with figures of 11 for 181. Karnataka earned five points by virtue of this victory.
Uttar Pradesh skipper Mohammad Kaif and Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried to stop the inevitable with half-centuries, but the target before them was too huge and with Mithun bowling at his best, even they could not salvage the match.
UP started the final day needing 408 runs for victory with nine wickets in hand, but were rocked early on by Vinay Kumar, who sent Ravikant Shukla back to the dressing room.
Kaif and SS Shukla tried to consolidate UP's position, but veteran Sunil Joshi trapped Shukla leg before for 35. Kaif was then joined by Parvinder Singh, but they were again unable to build a big partnership as Singh was caught and bowled by Amit Verma for 14.
Kaif then completed his half-century and looked like a man on mission to save the match, but was caught by Vinay off Udit Patel for 54.
From thereon Bhuvenshwar Kumar and Piyush Chawla took on the responsibility of trying to save the match as they added 37 for the sixth wicket, when Mithun wiped off the last semblance of resistance. He had Chawla caught by Akhil off the third ball of the 60th over, then bowled Amir Khan and RP Singh to complete his hat-trick and 10 wickets for the match. He bagged one more to bring an end to Bhuvneshwar Kumar's gritty knock of 63, which included seven boundaries and two sixes.
Joshi took the final wicket to give Karnataka a moral boosting victory ahead of their match against a strong Delhi team.

Scoreboard
Karnataka: 405 & 311/5 dec
Uttar Pradesh 279 & overnight 30/1
SS Shukla lbw b Joshi 35
Ravikant Shukla lbw b Vinay Kumar 10
M Kaif c Vinay Kumar b Patel 54
Parvinder Singh c & b Amit Verma 14
B Kumar c Dravid b Mithun 63
PP Chawla c Akhil b Mithun 17
Amir Khan b Mithun 0
RP Singh b Mithun 0
P Gupta not out 11
SJ Srivastava lbw b Joshi 9
Extras (b 18, w 3, nb 5) 26
Total (all out; 66.2 overs) 252
Fall of wickets:2-46 (Ravikant Shukla), 3-85 (SS Shukla), 4-124 (Parvinder Singh), 5-168 (Kaif), 6-205 (Chawla), 7-205 (Amir Khan), 8-205 (Singh), 9-241 (Kumar), 10-252 (SJ Srivastava)

Bowling
R Vinay Kumar 17 3 51 1
A Mithun 19 1 95 5
SB Joshi 8.2 1 16 2
B Akhil 6 3 9 0
Amit Verma 5 1 11 1
UB Patel 11 0 52 1

Tag: MITHUN, KUMAR, SINGH, SHUKLA, MATCH, WICKETS, KAIF, VINAY, CHAWLA, VICTORY, KARNATAKA, B MITHUN, VINAY KUMAR, AMIR KHAN, UTTAR PRADESH, AMIT VERMA 14,