Karnataka stay in firm control

Hosts post impressive 542 all out

Manish Pandey and skipper Vinay Kumar struck entertaining half-centuries as Karnataka continued to hold the upper hand against rivals Delhi in their Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy encounter here at the Rajnagar Stadium.

After the runfest from their top-order on day one, Pandey’s strokeful 81 and Vinay’s quickfire 50 helped the hosts post a strong first innings total of 542.

The Delhi batsmen then responded well and finished at 60 for one at the end of day two on Tuesday. Skipper Gautam Gambhir was unbeaten on 33.

Despite their good start, the visitors will have to continue to bat with confidence to move closer to Karnataka’s total as an intriguing third day beckons. Apart from tackling the quality pace attack of Karnataka, Delhi will also have to sort out their middle-order woes as they look to claw their way back into the game.

Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 358 for three, the Karnataka batsmen found runs hard to come by in the first hour. Karun Nair found his stay difficult against the Delhi pacemen and the right-hander was bowled by Navdeep Saini in the sixth over of the day.

Following the early dismissal of Nair, Pandey and CM Gautam batted with caution to avoid further damage. Once he got his eye in, the destructor in Pandey came to the fore as he powered his way to his second half-century of the season. His knock included 13 fours.

Featuring typical front foot pulls and classy drives past the bowlers, it was a trademark Pandey innings, but the right-hander has only himself to blame for having missed out on a century. Batting on 81, after having received a reprieve from Nitish Rana in the previous delivery from Pradeep Sangwan, Pandey played the next one away from his body and chopped the ball on to the stumps. During his innings, Pandey crossed 4000 runs in Ranji, becoming the 11th player from Karnataka to achieve the feat.

Skipper Vinay attacked right from the start and the 31-year-old’s daredevil approach produced great dividends. The right-hander, who scored his first Ranji century at this venue, feasted on the spinners and notched up his fifty in just 57 balls. Vinay, along with Gautam, added 41 runs between them to frustrate the Delhi bowlers.

Gautam, yet to make an impact in the season, was understandably slow and circumspect and after three hours of hard work in the middle, the wicket-keeper batsman’s slight lapse in concentration saw him hand a simple catch to slip off Sangwan.

For Delhi, Sangwan (3/102) and Saini (3/85) finished with three wickets apiece. The Delhi openers – Unmukt Chand (22) and Gambhir began in solid fashion but a wild swing from Chand of S Arvind brought his downfall, as he was out caught behind.

Pandey said going into the third day, Karnataka’s aim would be to bowl out Delhi as soon as possible and force them to bat again. “The plan is to get them out as early as possible. We are in a safe position now and we will be aiming to bowl them out twice,” said Pandey.