S Badrinath's well crafted century notwithstanding, two left-handers from Tamil Nadu have dominated this match so far. On Friday’s opening day, Abhinav Mukund stole the thunder with a magnificent century on debut. On Saturday, left-arm spinner R Ramkumar decided to have his say, first with the bat and later, more tellingly, with the ball. In the process, Karnataka were left badly bruised as the hosts took a decisive hold on the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match here at the MA Chidambaram stadium. 

Having made a commanding 421, Tamil Nadu had reduced Karnataka to a precarious 144 for six at close of play, giving themselves a realistic chance of forcing an outright win. Trailing by 277, Karnataka still need 128 to avoid follow-on with only the tail as company for B Akhil.

To blame the position Karnataka are in right now on the vagaries of the pitch would not only be doing gross injustice to the discipline of the Tamil Nadu bowlers, but also masking the mistakes of the visiting batsmen. The pitch didn't change its nature the moment Tamil Nadu were done with their batting. As was amply demonstrated by Sudhindra Shinde, Thilak Naidu and to an extent skipper Yere Goud, there are plenty of runs still to be made with some application. Barring opener KB Pawan, who probably received the ball of the match, others were victims of their own follies.

Despite having to pursue a total in excess of 400, Karnataka had most things going their way -- a placid wicket, an inexperienced home attack and batsmen with proven track record. Goud's men, however, chose to blow it all away, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Pawan was done in by a ball from paceman P Amarnath that jagged back sharply and uprooted his leg-stump, with the right-hander looking clueless. It certainly wasn't the start Karnataka were looking for, but with star batsman Robin Uthappa still at the crease, flames of hope were still burning bright. Despite a trademark flick to the fence off Amarnath, Uthappa looked iffy through the length of his stay. Constantly troubled by medium-pacer V Yomahesh, he survived a close shout to the second ball of the innings. The pacer eventually put an end to Uthappa's misery, inducing a faint nick with a delivery that shaped away.

No devils

Number three Shinde (45, 64b, 9x4) dealt in boundaries, collecting his first 28 runs with fours and indicating that there was nothing wrong with the pitch. It was at this stage that Ramkumar (3/32) got into his act. The left-armer trapped C Raghu in front at the stroke of tea and on resumption castled Shinde, who failed to cover his off-stump.

Naidu and Goud put up some resistance adding 62 in 114 balls. Naidu in particular looked in good touch, but his inability to put the brakes on his aggressive ways cost him his wicket, with his sweep off Ramkumar brilliantly snapped at mid-wicket by a diving Anirudha Srikkanth.

The misery, however, wasn't yet over for Karnataka. After their appeal for bad light was turned down, Goud was excellently caught down the leg-side by stumper HK Gopinath in the day’s last over.

Earlier, Badrinath and Ramkumar were involved in a crucial 83-run association off 126 balls that helped Tamil Nadu cross the 400-mark after the early loss of Gopinath. While dominant partner Ramkumar (65, 76b, 9x4, 1x6) completed his half-century, Badrinath (143, 304b, 14x4, 2x6), with a right mix of caution and aggression, strode his way ninth Ranji century.

TAMIL NADU (I Innings, O/n: 289/5): Anirudha Srikkanth lbw Vinay 0 (2m, 2b), M Vijay c Naidu b Aiyappa 32 (106m, 60b, 3x4, 1x6), Abhinav Mukund (run out) 108 (266m, 176b, 13x4), S Badrinath c Shinde b Joshi 143 (421m, 304b, 14x4, 2x6), K Vasudeva Das c Shinde b Joshi 12 (31m, 31b, 1x4), R Srinivasan c Vinay b Aiyappa 27 (51m, 47b, 5x4), HK Gopinath c Goud b Aiyappa 3 (42m, 29b), R Ramkumar c Akhil b Vinay 65 (93m, 76b, 9x4, 1x6), V Yomahesh lbw Joshi 0 (13m, 13b), C Suresh (not out) 7 (53m, 40b, 1x4), P Amarnath c Pawan b Vinay 8 (27m, 18b, 2x4). Extras (B-7, LB-5, W-2, NB-2) 16. Total (all out, 132.2 overs) 421.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Anirudha), 2-67 (Vijay), 3-206 (Abhinav), 4-223 (Das), 5-282 (Srinivasan), 6-294 (Gopinath), 7-377 (Ramkumar), 8-390 (Yomahesh), 9-407 (Badrinath).

Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 30.2-12-74-3 (nb-2), NC Aiyappa 23-1-73-3 (w-1), B Akhil 15-3-52-0 (w-1), Sunil Joshi 37-10-103-3, KP Appanna 16-0-73-0, C Raghu 11-134-0.

KARNATAKA (I Innings): Robin Uthappa c Gopinath b Yomahesh 15 (53m, 32b, 1x4), KB Pawan b Amarnath 3 (17m, 11b), Sudhindra Shinde b Ramkumar 45 (81m, 64b, 9x4), C Raghu lbw Ramkumar 6 (20m, 10b, 1x4), Yere Goud c Gopinath b Amarnath 34 (118m, 79b, 4x4), Thilak Naidu c Anirudha b Ramkumar 36 (69m, 55b, 6x4, 1x6), B Akhil (batting) 1 (22m, 17b). Extras (W-1, NB-3) 4. Total (for 6 wkts, 44.1 overs) 144.

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Pawan), 2-30 (Uthappa), 3-58 (Raghu), 4-78 (Shinde), 5-140 (Naidu), 6-144 (Goud).
Bowling: V Yomahesh 13-3-40-1 (w-1, nb-3), Amarnath 10.1-3-46-2, Abhinav Mukund 1-0-6-0, Ramkumar 15-5-32-3, C Suresh 5-1-20-0.