Glad that my hard work paid off: Gautam

Having struggled in the group matches, CM Gautam finally brought up his maiden hundred of the current Ranji campaign and the right-hander credited his success to work he had put in during the five-day break before the quarterfinal against Uttar Pradesh.

“I feel good about my knock as it came at the right time,” said Gautam on Thursday, after scoring an even 100 having resumed his innings at the overnight score of 89. 

Gautam said he ‘approached’ the game with a different mindset. “I approached it as a different tournament altogether. The knockouts are a different ball game and I went in with a different mindset and had worked on my batting a bit in the five days in the run up to this match. My head was falling a bit and I worked on it with my personal coach. I am glad I got the result,” he remarked.

Karnataka let UP off the hook to allow them to finish the day at 221/9 from 65/6. “There will be one or two sessions in the game like that,” Gautam reasoned. “Probably, this is the first time that we had such (a) bad session. It’s bound to happen at some stage and I am glad it’s in the quarterfinal and not semifinal or final. We have to bat well tomorrow (Friday) and make up for it.”

Karnataka most probably will get to bat early on the third day and Gautam felt batting well in the first session will be crucial as the game is still ‘wide open’. “I think the wicket is doing a bit. To be honest, the morning sessions have been a bit tough to deal with. Even yesterday (Wednesday), it eased out in the afternoon. In the morning today too, it was cutting and seaming a bit. But otherwise, it’s a good wicket to bat. We would look to bat as long as possible. There are still three more days and anything can happen. As far as I am concerned, the game is still wide open.”