The hosts made an outstanding comeback after conceding the first innings lead. They overcame a series of hurdles -- threat of rain disruption, absence of a fourth strike bowler, the non-availability of four stalwarts and most important of all, a defiant Abbas Ali of MP -- to post a memorable win. Incidentally, Karnataka's previous five title wins were on the basis of the first innings lead; this was the first time they were recording an outright win.

Vijay Bharadwaj, who achieved the distinction of becoming the highest run-getter in a single season, was the man who turned the tide in Karnataka's favour,ironically with the ball. In a remarkable spell, Bharadwaj returned with a career best haul of six for 24 to put paid to MP's aspirations.

MP needed to keep six wickets intact in the final session. If the pressure was on MP, the hosts had to work out ways of getting the breakthroughs. The unlikely hero of the moment was Bharadwaj who played on the psychology of the MP batsmen.

Rain had washed out two sessions of play on Thursday but with bright sunshine today, play could start on schedule. Karnataka, ahead by 246 runs, declared the innings at their overnight score of 321 for seven. Medium pacer Mansoor Ali provided Karnataka the breakthrough, striking in the fifth ball of his very first over, trapping opener CP Sahu (6) in front of the wicket.

Joshi wasted no time in bringing himself into the attack, and had the first innings centurion Santosh Sahu (19; 80m, 59b, 2x4) lobbing the ball to Anand Yalvigi at mid on. Soonafter, he trapped the well settled JP Yadav (26; 63m, 39b, 4x4), as MP limped to 69 forthree (36 overs) at lunch.

The fourth wicket pair of Devendra Bundela and Abbas Ali defied long enough to cause worry in the Karnataka camp. With six overs to go for tea, Bharadwaj managed to castle Bundela, who scored a gritty 28 (168m, 124b, 4x4). With MP batsmen determined to play out time rather than chase the target, they plodded for 61 runs during post-lunch session in 30 overs. This approach enabled Karnataka to apply pressure by surrounding the batsmen with close-in fielders. Bharadwaj claimed two wickets in two balls immediately after tea to begin the rout. The dismissal of MP skipper Chandrakant Pandit (13) was a most important one. Pandit edged to A Vijay at short leg.

This opened the floodgates as Bharadwaj in an inspired spell claimed two more wickets as MP went into the mandatory overs with four wickets in hand. Bharadwaj's decisive third spell read 7-3-13-3 while the fourth read even better at 0.5-0-0-2.

Scoreboard

Karnataka (1st innings): 304
Madhya Pradesh (1st innings):379
Karnataka (2nd innings): 321-7 decl.
Madhya Pradesh (2nd innings): CP Sahu lbw Mansoor 6, JP Yadav lbw Joshi 26, S Sahu c Yalvigi b Joshi 19, D Bundela b Bharadwaj 28, Abbas Ali c Ganesh b Joshi 47, C Pandit c Vijay b Bharadwaj 13, Raja Ali c Joshi b Bharadwaj 0, Harvinder Sodhi c&b Shiraguppi 0, R Chauhan c Joshi b Bharadwaj 4, M Majithia (not out) 0, N Hirwani c Vijay b Bharadwaj 0. Extras (nb6, w1) 7.
Total (all out in 84.5 overs): 150.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-48, 3-53, 4-108, 5-132, 6-132, 7-142, 8-150, 9-150.

Bowling: Ganesh 19-4-53-0, Mansoor 10-3-30-1, Joshi 30-16-31-3, Yalvigi 8-4-7-0, Bharadwaj 14.5-6-24-6, Akhil 3-1-5-0.