The visitors have to score another 106 runs with eight wickets in hand for victory on the morrow. But their batsmen will have two things in mind -- the fifth day's wicket and Kanwaljit. The veteran offie, who has silenced his critics with wonderful exhibition of spin bowling, could be Karnataka's big stumbling block on their road to the final.

Earlier, Hyderabad were once again let down by their batsmen. A target of 200 or above could have given their bowlers a chance to stay in the match. But their batsmen, save for A Nandakishore (39: 172m, 103b, 4x4), simply lacked the application. The home side crumbled for 179 in 62.2 overs.Having conceded a lead of 26 runs Hyderabad had to takethe chances and accelerate the run-rate. The intention was fine. But the execution went haywire.

SCOREBOARD

Hyderabad (1st innings): 283.

Karnataka (1st innings): 309.

Hyderabad (2nd innings): Arvind Shetty c Fazal b Joshi 21, Daniel Manohar c Joshi b Ganesh 16, MV Sridhar c S Murthy b Mansoor 35, A Nandakishore c Somasunder b Joshi 39, Vanka Pratap c Somasunder b Katti 16, Santosh Yadav c Girish (sub) b Katti 12, Noel David c Siruggupi b Ganesh 9, Youraj Singh lbw Ganesh 1, NP Singh b Ganesh 8, V Raju (not out) 15, Kanwaljit Singh b Mansoor 4;

Extras (nb2, w1): 3.

Total (in 62.2 overs): 179.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-43, 3-73, 4-99, 5-121, 6-132, 7-136, 8-154, 9-170.

Bowling: Ganesh 21-3-74-4, Joshi 19-4-45-2, Bhardwaj 3-0-11-0, Mansoor Ali 11.2-3-34-2, Katti 8-1-15-2.

Karnataka (2nd innings): Sujit Somasunder c Sridhar b Kanwaljit 17, Arunkumar c&b Kanwaljit 23, Fazal Khaleel (batting) 0, Anand Katti (batting) 0;

Extras (b5, lb3): 8.

Total (for 2 wkts in 34 overs):48.

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-48.

Bowling: NP Singh 8-3-14-0, Manohar 7-3-14-0, Kanwaljit 12-7-9-2, Raju 7-4-3-0.