JOIN USPacers call the shots as match is evenly poised
Karnataka pacers Sreenath Arvind and Stuart Binny produced superb spells to restrict HP to 199, earning their side a handy 55-run first-innings lead. Their effort seemed to give the visitors a palpable edge. But the course of this Super League Group B match slipped into the unpredictable as the host bowlers grabbed four Karnataka wickets for 73 at the end of the second day. The visitors now have a 128-run overall lead.
An easy start to their second innings wouldn’t have been on Karnataka’s mind, but neither would they have imagined such a troublesome beginning. Himachal pacers exploited the favourable conditions and a slightly double-paced pitch in telling manner as the Karnataka top-order once again resembled a rudderless boat.
KB Pawan and KL Rahul looked uncomfortable, pushing, prodding and missing on a number of occasions. A tentative prod off paceman Mohinder Sharma that ended in the hands of Vineet Indulkar at second slip rescued Pawan from his tortured stay.
Skipper Ganesh Satish feathered one to Paras Dogra at third slip off Vikramjeet Malik as the HP bowlers sensed an opening. They packed the off-side field with as many as seven fielders, and the bowlers responded to the field with a consistent outside off-stump line.
The strategy put Rahul and Robin Uthappa under considerable pressure and also fetched dividends soon. Rahul shuffled too much across the line and tried to turn the ball to the vacant deep square-leg area but missed the line completely as the cherry rattled timber.
Uthappa was a bit unlucky to be adjudged leg before to Rishi Dhawan as the ball seemed to be travelling down the leg-side, and his dismissal reduced Karnataka to a wobbly 33 for four.
Just as in three recent innings, Karnataka found a pair of batsmen with the will to graft at that critical juncture. By no means did Manish Pandey and Amit Verma enjoy a cozy time. In fact, there were numerous shouts for leg before and nervous jabs at awaygoing deliveries.
But to their credit, Pandey and Verma didn’t get ruffled by a set of aggressive bowlers and a charged-up atmosphere, concentrating on the task at hand and stitching together an unfinished 40-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The young duo will have to expand Karnataka’s lead and give their bowlers a defendable total on the morrow. Before they were pushed into a corner, it was the turn of the Karnataka pace bowlers to torment the batsmen with an exemplary spell.
The day began with a gritty stand of 71 between openers Sangram Singh and Hemant Dogra, an association that frustrated the wicket-seeking Karnataka bowlers. It’s impossible to imagine someone walking on broken bottles to watch them batting, but Sangram and Hemant showed the willingness to battle it out for a large part of the morning session. With his frontline pacers proving ineffective, skipper Satish summoned Binny, and the move paid immediate results.
The medium-pacer removed Dogra, looking increasingly comfortable at the crease, and that was just the beginning. Bhavin Thakkar played a half-hearted pull off Binny for Arvind to complete a brilliant forward-diving catch and off the very next ball, the all-rounder jettisoned Indulkar as Himachal slipped to 73 for three. They lost two more wickets before lunch and in the afternoon session, the home side had little answers to the guiles and accuracy of left-arm pacer Arvind.
Score Board
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 254 all out in 86.3 overs
HIMACHAL PRADESH (I Innings O/n: 1/0): Sangram Singh lbw Arvind 21 (102m, 61b, 3x4), Hemant Dogra c Uthappa b Binny 45 (78m, 56b, 7x4); Bhavin Thakkar c Aravind b Binny 0 (13m, 7b); Vineet Indulkar c Uthappa b Binny 0 (2m, 1b); Paras Dogra c Pandey b Arvind 15 (31m, 25b, 3x4); Manvinder Bisla b Arvind 33 (77m, 48b, 4x4, 1x6); Rishi Dhawan lbw Mithun 28 (66m, 44b, 5x4); Kuldip Dewan c Pandey b Joshi 14 (63m, 35b, 2x4); Vikramjeet Malik c sub b Arvind 15 (53m, 38b, 2x4); Mohinder Sharma (not out ) 4 (11m, 9b, 1x4); Jitender Mehta c sub b Joshi 2 (7m, 2b); Extras (LB-12, B-9, W-1) 22; Total (all out, 54.4 overs) 199.
Fall of wickets: 1-71 (H Dogra), 2-73 (Thakkar), 3-73 (Indulkar), 4-79 (Sangram), 5-109 (P Dogra), 6-161 (Bisla), 7-165 (Dhawan), 8-193 (Malik), 9-193 (Dewan).
Bowling: Aditya B Sagar 13-1-49-0, A Mithun 14-3-33-1 (w-1), S Arvind 16-1-50-4, Stuart Binny 6-1-22-3, Sunil Joshi 5.4-2-24-2.
KARNATAKA (II Innings): KL Rahul b Mohinder 12 (59m, 27b, 2x4); KB Pawan c Indulkar b Mohinder 1 (23m, 18b); Ganesh Satish c P Dogra b Malik 0 (13m, 11b); Robin Uthappa lbw Dhawan 11 (40m, 24b, 1x4); Manish Pandey (batting) 26 (61m, 59b, 5x4); Amit Verma (batting) 20 (45m, 40b, 4x4); Extras (NB-3) 3; Total (4 wkts, 31 overs) 73.
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Pawan), 2-12 (Satish), 3-22 (Rahul), 4-33 (Uthappa).
Bowling: Vikramjeet Malik 8-4-8-1 (nb-1), Mohinder Sharma 7-0-18-2 (nb-1), Rishi Dhawan 7-3-14-1 (nb-1), Jitender Mehta 6-2-15-0, Sangram Singh 1-0-1-0, Kuldip Dewan 1-0-8-0, Hemant Dogra 1-0-9-0.