Karnataka toil on opening day

Upadhyay grabs four wickets as Railways leave visitors struggling at 207/7

A typical north Indian winter -- grey and windy -- greeted Karnataka on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match against Railways on Sunday.

Despite this, not to mention the grassy track at the Karnail Singh stadium, the defending champions surprisingly opted to bat after winning the toss.

They believed the pitch wasn't too hard at the base and will only become more difficult to bat in the fourth innings. There is still time to assess that call as it was Railways, backed by disciplined bowling from their pace-attack, who ruled the roost.

Placed 207/7 at stumps, Karnataka's hope for a competitive first innings total hinges on CM Gautam and Shreyas Gopal, the first innings centurion against Bengal, who have added 31 runs for the unfinished seventh wicket.

Karnataka progressed steadily during the first 14 overs following a delayed start of more than an hour due to bad light. But they soon cracked against Railways’ bowling and Krishnakant Upadhyay (4-75) was the pick of the bowlers. Only Robin Uthappa (40) and Kunal Kapoor (53) stood out on a sunless day.

Kapoor, however, felt: “It is a fairly decent score looking at the wicket. We are looking to get to 260-270 runs which may be a match winning total on this wicket. Runs are not easy to come by, as the pitch is a little low and two-paced. Railways bowled at disciplined areas.”

The 42-run opening stand between Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal looked set to betray the conventions. But Agarwal’s wobbly stay was cut short by Upadhyay, who induced an edge for Nitin Bhille in the second slips, shortly before lunch. Uthappa, who had been effortlessly piercing the tardy outfield, fell in the third ball of the second session, Bhille catching his miscued drive off Upadhyay.

Manish Pandey looked threatening during his brief innings, bludgeoning Railways pacers. He, though, soon perished in his attempt to clear the in-field. Ranjit Mali, the third Railways seamer, ended Karun Nair’s brief but stroke filled innings trapping him lbw and Karnatka found themselves tottering at 100/4.

All this while, Kapoor held one end steady, patiently shouldering the ball, and treating it on merit. The attempt of Upadhyay and his fellow paceman Anureet Singh, the two engaged in a long opening spell, to lure him into nicking didn’t bear immediate results. The 27-year-old batsman showed good defence while forging a crucial fifth-wicket partnership with Stuart Binny, the two gleaning runs at a fast clip.  However, Kapoor’s stoic resistance finally gave away when he poked Upadhyay to be caught behind.

Binny didn’t stay long either, his cover drive landing straight in the hands of Arindam Ghosh off left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav. Karnataka will now be expecting to reap similar benefits of weather and green wicket on Monday.