Rajasthan were staring at defeat after being reduced to 53 for four in the second innings against Karnataka on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' cricket match in Jaipur on Tuesday.

Pankaj Gupta (11) and Anshu Jain (13) were at the crease at close, which came 9.1 overs early due to fading light.

Karnataka had made 145 in their first innings, thus conceding a 23-run lead to Rajasthan.

Resuming today at 129 for one, Karnataka reached 350 in their second innings with the help of fine knocks from Rowland Barrington (81), Vijay Bharadwaj (50) and Sunil Joshi (35), to set Rajasthan a victory target of 328.

Karantaka seamer Venkatesh Prasad and Dodda Ganesh grabbed two wickets each to leave the home team in turmoil.

Vineet Saxena (4), Gagan Khoda (2), Rohit Jhalani  (15) and skipper P Krishnakumar (2) were the batsmen to get out cheaply.

Rajasthan are still 274 behind with six wickets in hand.

Scoreboard

Karnataka (1st innings): 145

Rajasthan (1st innings): 168

Karnataka (2nd innings):
J Arun Kumar c Choudhary b Sanjeev Sharma 58
R Barrington c Jhalani b Mathur 81
S Shinde lbw Mathur 17
V Bharadwaj lbw Krishnakumar 50
T Naidu b Kanwat 0
D Chougule c Saxena b Kanwat 20
S Binny c Khoda b Kanwat 22
S Joshi c Jhalani b Choudhary 35
D Ganesh c Krishnakumar b Mathur 10
B K V Prasad b Mathur 14
U Patel not out 3

Extras: (b-9, lb-11, nb-11, w-9) 40

Total: (all out in 121.2 overs) 350

Fall of wickets: 1-115, 2-180, 3-187, 4-194, 5-236, 6-275, 7-281, 8-321, 9-338.

Bowling: Sunil Mathur 23-7-64-4, Kishan Choudhary 19.2-2-63-1, Rahul Kanwat 30-5-78-3, P Krishnakumar 21-4-62-2, Sanjeev Sharma 19-2-37-1, Anup Dave 8-0-25-0, Pankaj Gupta 1-0-1-0.

Rajasthan (2nd innings):
V Saxena lbw Prasad 4
G Khoda lbw Ganesh 2
R Jhalani c Naidu b Ganesh 15
P Gupta batting 11
P Krishnakumar b Prasad 2
A Jain batting 13

Extras: (b-1, lb-4, nb-1) 6

Total: (for 4 wkts, in 21.3 overs) 53

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-21, 3-21, 4-31

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 9-1-25-2, Dodda Ganesh 8-5-9-2, Stuart Binny 2-0-6-0, Sunil Joshi 2-1-3-0, Udit Patel 0.3-0-5-0.