Mayank Agarwal.
DH Photo/ SK Dinesh
Bengaluru: Karnataka’s ambitions of posting a bonus-point win against Haryana in their final Ranji Trophy Group C encounter didn’t take off as per plans as both the teams shared the honours on a grinding day of old-school cricket here on Thursday.
Skipper Mayank Agarwal struck a fine 91 off 149 balls, a knock that was laced with extreme discipline and moments of aggression, but with the rest of his batting colleagues failing to convert on starts by falling to the guile of the potent and patient Haryana attack, the hosts could only manage 267/5 in 89 overs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Needing nothing less than a bonus-point win against current table-toppers Haryana (26 points) to secure a passage into the knockout quarterfinals, third-placed Karnataka (19) gambled on preparing a sporting pitch — just like they did versus Punjab last week — and packed their side with three pacers and a pace-bowling all-rounder. However, for that strategy to potentially click, they needed to bowl first which didn’t happen as Haryana won a good toss and inserted Karnataka in.
Haryana pacers Anshul Kamboj (2/25) and Ajit Chahal, and first change Anuj Thakral (2/74), made life extremely difficult for Agarwal and his opening partner KV Aneesh. With the morning winter chill also aiding them, they just stuck to time-tested conventional first-class bowling, landing the balls consistently in and around the off-stump. They constantly tested the patience and defences of Aneesh and Agarwal with their disciplined lines and lengths.
Veteran Agarwal and new kid on the block Aneesh responded brilliantly to the challenge with good old-fashioned batting. They just stuck to defending, letting all those teasing deliveries outside the off-stump safely to keeper Rohit Sharma. Runs hardly came in the opening hour, Karnataka limping to 14/0 in 10 overs. Agarwal and Aneesh looked set for the long haul.
Agarwal slowly started to shift gears by constantly stepping down the track while Aneesh, having done all the hard yards, began to play his shots as momentum began to shift towards Karnataka. Haryana, however, stuck to their discipline and the hard-working Kamboj finally got the reward for all his toil in the 21st over as he castled Aneesh, Karnataka 45/1.
KL Rahul then joined forces with his friend Agarwal and the duo looked like turning the clock back. Agarwal nicely mixed caution with aggression while Rahul, despite not looking fluent, batted without much trouble. But almost against the run of play, Kamboj struck, dismissing Rahul with a peach, a nice out-swinger catching the batter’s edge to keeper Rohit a little after lunch.
Agarwal, who has been in good form recently, motored on smoothly at the other end and his new partner Devdutt Padikkal nicely picked up the pace. But just when Karnataka looked like gaining the initiative, a rash shot from Agarwal in the 48th over off Thakral brought the game back in the balance. It shifted towards Haryana when Padikkal and R Smaran departed in quick succession, Karnataka slipping to 222/5.
But wicket-keeper KL Shrijith (18 n.o.) and all-rounder Yashovardhan Parantap (27 n.o.) forged a fighting 45-run unbeaten stand and a lot will depend on them on Friday as Karnataka seek a massive win.
SCORE BOARD KARNATAKA (I Innings): Aneesh KV b Kamboj 17 (67b 2x4) Mayank Agarwal c Kamboj b Thakral 91 (149b 8x4 3x4) KL Rahul c Rohit b Kamboj 26 (37b 4x4) Devdutt Padikkal lbw Thakral 43 (93b 4x4) R Smaran lbw Sindhu 35 (48b 4x4) KL Shrijith (batting) 18 (44b) Yashovardhan Parantap (batting) 27 (98b 1x4). Extras (LB-5 W-3 NB-2) 10. TOTAL (for 5 wkts 89 overs) 267. Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Aneesh) 2-99 (Rahul) 3-161 (Agarwal) 4-220 (Padikkal) 5-222 (Smaran). Bowling: Anshul Kamboj 16-3-25-2 Ajit Chahal 18-4-52-0 Anuj Thakral 18-2-74-2 Nishanth Sindhu 19-3-45-1 Jayant Yadav 18-2-66-0. Other Elite C brief scores: At Thumba: Kerala: 302/9 in 84 overs (Akshay Chandran 38 Shoun Roger 59 Salman Nizar 111 MD Nidheesh 30; Harsh Singh 2-40 Sachin Kumar 2-80) vs Bihar. At Kolkata: Punjab: 191 all out in 57.2 overs (Sahaj Dhawan 25 Anmol Malhotra 106 n.o.; Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 4-68 Sumit Malhotra 4-58 Mohammed Kaif 2-41) vs Bengal: 119/4 in 31 overs (Anustup Majumdar 32 Sumanta Gupta 39 n.o.; Guano Brar 2-45). At Indore: Madhya Pradesh: 335/1 in 90 overs (Harsh Gawli 173 n.o. Himanshu Mantri 52 Shubham Sharma 100 n.o.) vs Uttar Pradesh.