Shreyas Gopal scored 77 to give Karnataka a seven-run first innings lead in their Ranji Trophy fixture against Punjab in Mohali.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: Karnataka's crisis man Shreyas Gopal (77, 195b, 6x4) waged a lone battle with the bat to give his team a slender seven-run first innings lead but Punjab appeared determined to deny visitors a win on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B fixture in Mohali on Saturday.
Resuming from their overnight 255 for six, tourists Karnataka were in danger of conceding the first innings honours after slipping to 281 for eight with Sukhdeep Bajwa (3/42) and Harpreet Brar (4/125) sharing seven wickets for an already knocked out Punjab.
But Shreyas and Mohsin Khan (10, 34b, 1x6) added 26 runs for the ninth wicket as Karnataka notched up 316 all out in 110.2 overs, replying to Punjab's 309.
In their second innings, Punjab were 119/3 in 45 overs when stumps were drawn, leading by 112 runs. Skipper Uday Saharan (63 n.o., 110b, 4x4, 2x6) and Anmolpreet Singh (6 n.o., 40b) made sure there were no further hiccups after Karnataka prised out three wickets.
Karnataka are now left with a mountain to climb on the final day, desperately hoping an early end to Punjab's second innings with bad light threat looming large.
Earlier, the first session was completely wiped out due to morning fog as early lunch was called at 11:30 am, and the day's proceedings only got underway at 12:10 pm.
Vidyadhar Patil (34, 83b) was the first to depart having added 11 runs to his overnight score and was caught by Anmol Malhotra off Sukhdeep, having stitched a crucial 66-run partnership with Shreyas.
Sukhdeep struck again two overs later as Shikhar Shetty (1) was caught off Brar.
However, like he has done all season, Shreyas dug deep and played out 9.4 overs with Mohsin for the ninth wicket to take Karnataka past the 300-mark.
The pendulum swung again as Anmoljeet got rid of Shreyas to reduce Karnataka to 307/9. But a nine-run tenth-wicket stand handed Karnataka some joy in a war they were losing.
Anmoljeet castled Mohsin in the 111th over later to bring the curtains down on Karnataka's innings, but they had done just enough to at least churn out three points from the contest.
Not too far away from the IS Bindra Stadium, Saurashtra beat Chandigarh by an innings and 56 runs and jumped to the second spot with 26 points.
Madhya Pradesh, meanwhile, booked their last-eight spot from Group B with a 133-run win over Maharashtra, taking their points tally to an unassailable 28.