More spells disaster for Goa in opener

Pacer grabs 6/18 on debut as Karnataka win big

As debuts go, this one has to be right up there with the best, even if it came against a lowly side on a slightly encouraging surface.

The spectators, just a handful of them of course, had barely settled down in their seats when the day’s proceedings had already begun to wind up, thanks largely to Ronit More.

The paceman, playing his maiden match for the State at the senior level, bagged a five-wicket haul as Karnataka got off to a winning start, crushing Goa by eight wickets before lunch in their KS Subbaiah Pillai opener here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday.

Opting to bat on a pitch that had good bounce and carry, a listless Goa were shot out for a paltry 54 in 20.3 overs. Karnataka then coasted to victory in 12.3 overs with 225 deliveries to spare.

The win would have been even more impressive had skipper Robin Uthappa and Ganesh Satish not thrown their wickets away in a modest chase. However, another debutant Karun Nair and Manish Pandey, bowled off a free-hit delivery, saw the team home without further damage. The victory gave Karnataka five points, including a bonus, while the visitors were docked one point.

Goa weren’t expected to make life all that difficult for Karnataka but the manner of victory – achieved with 40 minutes still left for the scheduled lunch break – might have come as a pleasant surprise to Uthappa and company.

Much of the credit for Karnataka’s comprehensive victory should go to young More, who ripped through the Goan batting with stunning returns of six for 18 spread over two spells. While the Belgaum lad was reasonably impressive in his opening spell (4-1-15-2), it was his 2.3-over second burst which saw Goa plumb to 54 all out from a not-so-flattering 49 for six.

The right-arm pacer initiated the destruction with a lifter in his very first over that caught opener Sagun Kamat by surprise and took a feather en route to Ganesh at first slip after slightly shaping away from the left-hander. The 20-year-old then removed the most well-known of the Goan batsmen, Swapnil Asnodkar, who appeared unconvincing during his brief stint.

More and senior partner Abhimanyu Mithun (2/21) struck in tandem on four occasions during their combined spell of nine overs at the start to leave the visitors gasping for breath. While the slightly greenish pitch did aid appreciable bounce, there was nothing diabolical in it that the Goan score card would otherwise have you believe. Jagging the ball at a decent pace, the two right-arm quicks had the visiting batsmen in all sorts of trouble and with left-arm spinner KP Appanna striking early, half the side was back in the hut in just about 11 overs.

Reagan Pinto, the only batsman to reach double digits with a painful 19, showed that with a little more application, the Goan innings would have attained a semblance of respectability but Karnataka weren’t complaining and More most certainly wasn’t. After Stuart Binny, strangely taken off the attack after just one over as first-change, struck on his return to remove rival skipper Shadab Jakati, More completed the carnage. The youngster took just 15 balls to wipe out the remaining four batsmen and set up the home side’s romp.

Score Board
GOA: Sagun Kamat c Satish b More 3 (5b), Swapnil Asnodkar c Uthappa b More 5 (11b), Vidyadhar Kamat lbw Mithun 7 (5b, 1x4), Reagn Pinto c Nair b More 19 (51b, 2x4), Rahul Keni c Gautam b Mithun 2 (7b), Saurabh Bandekar b Appanna 5 (8b, 1x4), Shadab Jakati b Binny 6 (12b, 1x4), Robin D’Souza c Gautam b More 1 (4b), Amit Yadav c Gautam b More 3 (16b), Ganeshraj Narvekar (not out) 0 (2b), Gaurish Gawas c Nair b More 0 (1b). Extras (W-3) 3. Total (all out, 20.3 overs) 54.
Fall of wickets: 1-9 (S Kamat), 2-17 (V Kamat), 3-19 (Asnodkar), 4-24 (Keni), 5-36 (Bandekar), 6-49 (Jakati), 7-50 (D’Souza), 8-53 (Pinto), 9-54 (Yadav).
Bowling: Abhimanyu Mithun 6-1-21-2, Ronit More 6.3-1-18-6 (w-3), Stuart Binny 5-1-4-1, KP Appanna 3-0-11-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 19/3; 10: 35/4; 20: 54/8; end of innings: 54 all out in 20.3 overs. Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 35/4; Power Play 2: 16-20 overs: 5/3; Power Play 3 (not taken).
KARNATAKA: Robin Uthappa c Jakati b Gawas 23 (20b, 4x4), Karun Nair (not out) 15 (36b, 2x4), Ganesh Satish b Jakati 1 (5b), Manish Pandey (not out) 11 (15b, 2x4). Extras (NB-1, W-4) 5. Total (for 2 wkts, 12.3 overs) 55.
Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Uthappa), 2-37 (Ganesh).
Bowling: Saurabh Bandekar 3-0-17-0 (w-2), Robin D’Souza 3-0-15-0, Gaurish Gawas 3-0-13-1 (w-2), Shadab Jakati 2-1-2-1, Ganeshraj Narvekar 1-0-7-0 (nb-1), Amit Yadav 0.3-0-1-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 26/0; 10: 41/2; end of innings: 55/2 in 12.3 overs.
Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 41/2; Power Plays 2 & 3 (not taken).