ALUR (Karnataka): Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya ran through the top-order to reduce Punjab to 120 for five in their second innings as Madhya Pradesh continued to enjoy the upperhand in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match on Thursday.
Opening the bowling, Kartikeya (4/11) picked up four crucial wickets to return with his second best first-class figures.
The 24-year-old accounted for the vital wickets of Punjab skipper Abhishek Sharma (17), Shubman Gill (19), Mandeep Singh (17) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (10) to single-handedly demolish Punjab's batting line-up in their second essay.
At stumps on the third day, Siddharth Kaul was batting on 16 and giving him company was wicket-keeper Aman Malhotra on 9.
Punjab still trail Madhya Pradesh by 58 runs and it would prove to be a Herculean task for them to save the match from here on.
Earlier, resuming at 238 for two, overnight centurion Shubham Sharma (102) failed to add to his score but Rajat Patidar continued his fine IPL form and hit 85 off 167 balls with the help of 12 boundaries to take Madhya Pradesh forward.
Patidar was ably supported by Akshat Raghuwanshi (69) as the duo shared 99 runs for the fifth wicket to hand Madhya Pradesh a sizeable first innings lead before perishing.
After the departure of the duo, the remaining four Madhya Pradesh batters could add just 14 runs before folding out in 154.5 overs, taking a massive first innings lead of 178 runs.
Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab with figures of five for 83.
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