The scenes of specialist fast bowlers trying their luck at spin, part-time spinners bowling medium pace and specialist batsmen donning the role of wicketkeeper summed up the proceedings on the fourth and final day of the Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy encounter between Karnataka and Delhi that ended in a draw here at the Rajnagar Stadium on Thursday.
After three days of energetic cricket had placed them in a good position to push for their third win of the season, Karnataka found themselves clueless against an unwavering batting duo of Nitish Rana and Dhruv Shorey.
Resuming from their overnight score of 22 for no loss in their second essay, after being forced to follow on, Delhi faced the challenge of batting out the entire day to deny the hosts a victory. Rana (132 n.o.) and Dhruv (107 n.o.), in their debut season in Ranji Trophy, exhibited great skill and patience to slam fighting centuries as they helped Delhi reach 290 for two. With a result looking unlikely, both the captains agreed to call end play before the start of the mandatory overs.
On a surface that had very little for the bowlers, Karnataka had done exceptionally well to bowl out the visitors and enforce the follow on. The wicket proved to be a flat one on final day as well and the Delhi batsmen, after an ordinary outing in their first innings, showed purpose and better application to frustrate the hosts.
Thanks to their first innings lead, Karnataka took home three points and the defending champions are placed fourth with 24 points to their credit. Delhi, with a point from this match, finished their group assignments with 25 points and they currently continue to remain as table toppers.
The lifeless pitch meant it was a struggle for the bowlers but Rana and Shorey deserve praise for their gritty knocks. After the dismissals of Gambhir and Unmukt, both accounted by S Arvind, the youngsters spent enough time at the crease and countered quality pace bowling with solid technique. Not worried about the slow run rate, Rana and Shorey consumed time to keep Delhi out of danger.
Post lunch, Rana freed his arms against the part-timers and reached his fifty with a straight six past bowler Shreyas Gopal. Bowling too short to two well set batsmen, the Karnataka bowlers lost rhythm for a short period following the first session and the duo cashed in on it nicely. Shorey, who had slammed a century in Delhi’s nine-wicket thumping of Maharashtra earlier this season, displayed great concentration to strike a classy ton, which included 14 fours.
Once an outright win looked beyond their reach, skipper Vinay Kumar experimented but with very little success. Pacemen HS Sharath, Abhimanyu Mithun and Arvind switched to spin mode while part-time off-spinner R Samarth sent in one over with medium pace. After CM Gautam was rested, Manish Pandey and Mayank Agarwal donned the role of the wicketkeeper but nothing affected Rana and Shorey, as they went about their business in unruffled manner.
score board
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 542
DELHI (I Innings): 301
DELHI (II Innings; following on; On: 22/0): Gautam Gambhir c Gautam b Arvind 15 (60b, 1x4), Unmukt Chand lbw Arvind 15 (92b), Dhruv Shorey (not out) 107 (227b, 14x4), Nitish Rana (not out) 132 (175b, 19x4, 2x6), Extras (B-8, LB-9, NB-2, W-2) 21. Total (for 2 wkts in 92 overs) 290.
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Gambhir), 2-50 (Chand). Bowling: Vinay Kumar 13-3-37-0, HS Sharath 15-1-35-0 (W-2), S Arvind 19-6-39-2 (NB-1), AMithun 10-1-47-0, Shreyas Gopal 17-3-40-0, Karun Nair 5-0-21-0, Mayank Agarwal 6-0-28-0, R Samarth 7-0-26-0 (NB-1).
Ranji round-up
Group A
At Rohtak: Haryana: 112 & (287/6) 324 all out in 121.5 overs (Nitin Saini 146, Priyank Tehlan Mohit Hooda 56; Pankaj Singh 5-85, Tanveer ul Haq 3-92, Rajat Bhatia 2-42) lt to Rajasthan: 279 & 161/1 in 38.5 overs (Manender Singh 41 n.o., Puneet Yadav 107 n.o.). Rajasthan: 6 points; Haryana: 0.
At Pune: Assam: 298 & 135 (Rahul Hazarika 31; Anupam Sanklecha 3-42, Shrikant Mundhe 2-33, Domnic Muthuswami 4-21) vs Maharashtra (O/n: 160/6): 196 all out in 69 overs (Rahul Tripathi 52, Kedar Jadhav 36; Krishna Das 6-73, Dhiraj Goswami 2-65, Abu Nechim 2-26) & 82/3 (Swapnil Gugale 30, Sangram Atitkar 40). Assam: 3 points, Maharashtra: 1 pt.
Group C
At Hyderabad: Hyderabad: 548/5 decl vs Tripura: 237 & following on (O/n: 25/0) 294/5 in 88 overs (Virag Awate 34, Arindam Das 37, Udiyan Bose 39, Parvinder Singh 104 n.o., MB Murasingh 49; Himalay Agarwal 2-21). Hyderabad: 3 points; Tripura: 1 pt.
At Jammu: Goa: 552/5 decl & 82/1 in 19 overs (Darshan Misal 41) vs J&K (O/n: 325/5): 501 all out in 140.5 overs (Pranav Puri 56, Ian Dev Singh 115, Mithun Manhas 135, Aamir Aziz 47, Ram Dayal 34, Samad Bhat 42 n.o.; RR Singh 4-118, Shadab Jakati 4-103). Goa: 3 points; J&K: 1 pt.
What Karnataka need to do to enter quarters
Karnataka will qualify for the quarterfinals if they manage to get three points from their last match against Maharashtra, irrespective of the results of the other matches in the group.
Karnataka cannot afford to lose the tie nor will a one-point show help them progress to the last eight stage.
POINTS TABLE
Group A P W L D t pts
Delhi 8 3 1 4 0 25
Assam 7 3 2 2 0 25
Bengal 7 2 0 5 0 25
Karnataka 7 2 0 5 0 24
Vidarbha 7 3 2 2 0 22
Odisha 7 1 2 4 0 12
Rajasthan 7 1 3 3 0 11
M’rashtra 7 0 2 5 0 11
Harayana 7 0 3 4 0 6
Group B P W L D t pts
Mumbai 7 4 0 3 0 32
Gujarat 7 3 1 2 1 23
Punjab 7 2 2 3 0 20
UP 7 2 1 3 1 18
TN 7 2 1 2 2 18
MP 7 2 2 2 1 17
Baroda 7 2 3 2 0 16
Railways 8 2 6 0 0 12
Andhra 7 0 3 3 1 10
Group C P W L D t pts
Sau’shtra 7 4 1 2 0 29
Kerala 7 2 1 4 0 25
J’khand 7 3 2 2 0 24
Himachal 7 2 1 3 1 24
Services 7 2 1 3 1 20
Goa 8 1 1 6 0 18
J&K 7 0 2 5 0 9
H’derabad 7 0 1 6 0 8
Tripura 7 0 4 3 0 3
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