Karnataka's spinners bowl Assam out twice as Aneesh and Manvanth set up an innings win

Karnataka's spinners bowled Assam out for 135 and 128 either side of a declaration at 577 for 6 to win their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Guwahati by an innings and 314 runs

Assam chose to bat first at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium and did not survive the opening day. Ritesh Bhatkal and Shikhar Shetty shared all ten wickets between them as the home side were dismissed for 135 in 48.1 overs.

Karnataka had passed that total for the loss of two wickets by the close, and by the time they declared on the third morning the game was beyond Assam. KV Aneesh made 145 and Manvanth Kumar finished unbeaten on 100.

Assam's second innings lasted 40.2 overs. Shreyas Gopal took 4-39 and the match was over on the third day, with well over a day to spare.

Spin takes hold on day one

Assam's decision at the toss was answered inside 49 overs. Bhatkal struck first, bowling opener Pradyun Saikia for 13 in the ninth over, and Shetty, bowling left-arm spin, removed Sumit Ghadigaonkar for 1 in the tenth.

Nothing Assam tried afterwards separated the pair. Bhatkal finished with 5-35 from 18 overs, four of them maidens, and Shetty with 5-53.

No other Karnataka bowler took a wicket in the innings, and no Assam batter reached fifty. The 135 came at under three an over.

Aneesh anchors the reply

Karnataka reached 180 for 2 by stumps on the opening day, already 45 runs in front with eight wickets standing.

Aneesh then batted the lead out of Assam's reach, making 145 from 254 balls. He was unbeaten on 142 overnight on the second day and added three more before he was out.

Karnataka resumed the third morning on 496 for 5 and added 81 before declaring at 577 for 6 from 133.2 overs, a first-innings lead of 442.

The declaration left Karnataka two days in which to take ten wickets. They needed 40.2 overs.

Manvanth's second hundred of the season

Manvanth Kumar began the third day on 53 and reached three figures from 108 balls, with eight fours and five sixes.

It was his second century in four matches. The first, 135 from 214 balls against Saurashtra at Alur last month, was his maiden first-class hundred and came from No. 9, in a ninth-wicket stand of 146 with Abhilash Shetty that carried Karnataka to 342 in a drawn game.

He was unbeaten on 100 when the declaration came, having added 47 to his overnight score.

Assam fold a second time

Batting again 442 behind, Assam were bowled out for 128 in 40.2 overs.

Denish Das was the only batter in the match to pass fifty, making 50 from 74 balls before Shetty bowled him.

Gopal's 4-39 and Shetty's 3-28 accounted for seven of the ten wickets. Shetty finished with eight in the match, Bhatkal with five.

What the win is worth

Karnataka took seven points from the match, a bonus point included, and have 16 from four Elite Group B games, with two wins and two draws. Assam took none.

The spinners did almost all of the work for them. Bhatkal and Shetty took all ten in the first innings, and Gopal and Shetty seven of the ten in the second.

The match had been scheduled to run to 5 November. Karnataka finished it on the third day, 4 November.

Assam, beaten inside three days on their own ground, have a batting problem to answer: 263 runs across two innings, and a single half-century between them.

Scorecard: Assam 135 (48.1 ov) and 128 (40.2 ov) lost to Karnataka 577 for 6 declared (133.2 ov) by an innings and 314 runs at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.