Satish, Gautam shine in Karnataka`s dominating batting

Chennai: Ganesh Satish struck his maiden first class double hundred and stumper Muralidharen Guatam scored an unbeaten 130 to lead Karnataka to a narrow 24-run first innings lead over Chennai in their Group B Ranji Trophy match, which ended in a draw here on Monday.

Satish and Gautam batted superbly as Karnataka scored 323 runs on the fourth and final day to score 562 for six and walked away with three points from the high-scoring clash. The visitors began the day at 239 for three and had a daunting task at hand to score 300 runs to overhaul Chennai`s total of 538 for four declared. The highest score on the first three days was 260 but Satish and Guatam, who even had retired hurt at individual score of 96, frustrated the Chennai bowlers. Satish`s unbeaten 200 came off 418 balls as he batted through the day after resuming at his overnight score of 65. Satish`s knock had 19 boundaries, including one shot over the fence. Karnataka lost overnight batsman Amit Verma (31) and Stuart Binny (10) but Gautam supported Satish well. When Gautam retired hurt and left the field, Sunil Raju came to bat. He scored 13 runs before being stumped off Malolan Rangarajan. Gautam re-joined Satish and batted till the end of the day. He took 171 balls for his 131, laced with 13 boundaries. Brief scores: Chennai 1st innings: 538 for four declared Karnataka 1st innings: 562 for 6 in 187.4 overs. (Ganesh Satish 200 not out, M Gautam 130 not out; M Rangarajan 3/119). PTI