New Delhi, Nov. 12: Delhi had nobody but themselves to blame for their predicament at the end of Day Three of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Karnataka. After surrendering a 106-run first-innings lead, the home side clawed their way back into the match by lunch on Thursday but frittered away that advantage by losing six wickets in the second session at the Roshanara Club grounds on Thursday.

Delhi were struggling at 255/9 in 85 overs with a lead of just 149 at tea but play couldn't resume in the last session due to bad light and rain.

Overnight batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Rajat Bhatia saw off Karnataka's pacemen under overcast skies in the morning, putting on 135 runs for the third-wicket, to wipe out the deficit. But left-arm seamer S. Arvind castled Bhatia for 64 (156b, 9x4) just an over before lunch to open the flood-gates for the visitors.

In-form opener Dhawan carried on to a second successive century - after his double against Baroda in the last match - to raise Delhi's hopes. The southpaw judged the nature of the surface well and curbed the tendency to play away from his body. In his 316-minute knock, Dhawan only offered one chance to B. Akhil at second slip off Abhimanyu Mithun on 97.

"I played according to the merit of the ball and close to my body. The pitch has also eased out a bit after the first day," Dhawan said after close of play.

Dhawan was however, the culprit in his dismissal as well. He called wicketkeeper Punit Bisht for a non-existent single to cover and was run-out immediately after posting his second hundred of the Ranji season off 180 balls with 13 boundaries. Delhi were already struggling before Dhawan's dismissal after Arvind's twin strikes in the 65th over - dismissing Mayank Tehlan and Yogesh Nagar for noughts.

The Delhi vice-captain's dismissal made it 186/5 and the home side had lost three wickets for eight runs in 10 overs.

ICL-returnee Abhishek Sharma coming in at number eight swung the willow around to notch up 34 off 58 balls (7x4) and in the company of Bisht (14) and Sumit Narwal (14) stretched Delhi's lead to 149.

While Arvind (4/39) was the pick of the Karnataka bowlers, R. Vinay Kumar completed a ten-wicket haul in the match with the wicket of Bisht.

Vinay has 3/58 in the second innings to add to his eight wickets in the first.

Weather permitting Karnataka will now bid for consecutive outright wins and an exciting chase is in the offing on the final day.

Scores: Delhi 154 & 255/9 in 85 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 100, Rajat Bhatia 64, Abhishek Sharma 34; S. Arvind 4/39, R. Vinay Kumar 3/58) vs Karnataka 260