It is always news when a visiting team is beaten by a state or zonal side. Especially when the visitors are able to hold their own against the country's Test side. That is the reason why Karnataka's seven wicket victory over the New Zealanders at Bangalore on Tuesday made the headlines in the sports pages.

First class matches on tours have over the years lost their significance. With the advent of much more international cricket, shorter tours and emphasis on one day internationals, the three day games hardly evoke any interest. In fact a tour of India consists, at most, just two or three such matches.

And yet there was a time, quite a long while ago, when a tour of India lasted some five months with there being some two dozen first class matches. The tour used to be as long as when England toured Australia or when Australia visited England.

There have been famous victories registered by county or state sides against the visiting English or Australian sides. One clearly remembers a strong Surrey, then the oft crowned county champions, defeating the 1956 Australians by ten wickets with Jim Laker taking all ten wickets against them for the first time (he was to repeat the feat a couple of months later in the Old Trafford Test). Not far behind in cricketing folklore is the emphatic innings victory that a formidable New South Wales side inflicted on the 1962/63 MCC touring team with Richie Benaud spinning out Ted Dexter's squad with some mesmeric bowling.

In India too there have been similar `giant killing' feats. Just last year, Mumbai inspired by Sachin Tendulkar's double century routed a strong Australian side under Mark Taylor by ten wickets. In 1978-79, Karnataka scored a meritorious victory over Alvin Kallicharran's West Indians. And in 1984-85, David Gower's English team went down to a humiliating innings defeat at the hands of the Indian under-25 side, a match that brought Md Azharuddin and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan into the limelight.

But perhaps the most famous victory in a first class match in India was registered by the combined Central-East zone team against the all conquering West Indians of 1966-67. The visiting team, one of the strongest ever to visit the country, were too strong for India, winning the three match series 2-0. But against a seemingly rag tag combination of players from two zones led by Hanumant Singh, they came a cropper losing the match by an innings in virtually two days with Subroto Guha (12) and India's soccer captain Chuni Goswami (7) picking up the wickets. It remains arguably the most sensational result achieved on Indian soil against any visiting side.