Meerut: Kartanaka’s tail refused to wag against Uttar Pradesh as the visitors salvaged a valiant draw and earn a point in their third round group B Ranji Trophy match here on Tuesday.

C.M Gautam along with the tail-enders held on to their nerve and denied UP an outright win, but the hosts still managed to seal three points in the match due to their first innings lead.

Karnataka, who looked down the barrel throughout the match, saw a crucial 26 runs partnership between Gautam and K P Appanna which saw them play out 10.1 overs helped them end their second essay on 274-8.

UP skipper Suresh Raina declared their second innings at the overnight score of 343-5, and Karnataka got their campaign off to a woeful start. The lost their opener Robin Uthappa and K.B Pawan for cheap.

It was then the Manish Pandey and Ganesh Satish started the damage control and took the attack to UP. They stitched 122 runs for the third wicket before Pandey ran himself out post lunch on 76. His 98-ball innings included eight boundaries and three sixes. Satish too followed the suit and was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 70 off 111 balls laced with 11 boundaries.

From 188-4, they were lost some quick wickets before the tail put up a adamant show to deny UP the honours.

For UP, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the wrecker-in-chief in the second innings with a performance of 4-67.

By Indian Sports News Network