Delhi beat Karnataka in dress rehearsal for final

In the last league match before the finals on Thursday, Delhi won their tie against Karnataka by 20 runs in the HSBC National Cricket Tournament for the Blind at the Southern Railway Ground in Chennai. Oddly enough, though, tomorrow's final will also be contested between the same two teams.

Winning the toss, Delhi opted to bat first and racked up 274 runs in their 39.2-over essay. The extras, all 112 of them, overshadowed any individual batting performances, but Ramesh Kumar (47 off 42 balls) and wicket-keeper M Singh (39 off 37 balls) managed to make their presence felt.

Chasing 275, Karnataka managed only 254 in their reply. Vishal Kumar at the top of the order made 57 off 56 deliveries, but his only support came much lower down the order, from S Nayak (40 off 25 balls) and N Mahesh (46* off 40 balls).

For Delhi, Inder Singh and S Gaur took two wickets apiece, and 78 extras were conceded in the second innings, a factor that probably took the game away from Karnataka more than anything else.

The game, however, was played for the most part in the firm knowledge that it was a dress rehearsal for the final of the tournament on Thursday. In the other match, Gujarat beat Bengal by five wickets.