Debutant Prasidh rattles Bangla

Young pacer claims 5/49; visitors hit back strongly

Teenaged pacer Prasidh Krishna produced a smashing performance on his first-class debut but Karnataka frittered away all that advantage, allowing Bangladesh ‘A’ to hit back strongly on the opening day of their three-day game here on Tuesday.

Prasidh, just 19 and determined to make a strong impression ahead of the Ranji Trophy season that kicks off on October 1, gave a superb account of his raw talent, scalping 5/42 to play the lead role in packing off an erratic Bangladesh ‘A’ for a paltry 158 in just 38.3 overs at the SDNR Wadiyar stadium.

Karnataka, the reigning Ranji Trophy champions, however failed to drive home the advantage completely, their batsmen gifting away wickets on a platter to spinners Saqlain Sajib (3/48) and Shuvagata Hom (3/29) to be left at 163/6 when stumps were drawn on an interesting day’s play.

Having won the toss and electing to bat first on a sporting wicket, Bangladesh ‘A’ got off to a shocking start when Prasidh sent opener Rony Talukdar packing with the very first ball of his spell — the seventh ball of the innings. Looking to drive a full length ball, all that Talukdar managed was offer a regulation catch to Shishir Bhavane at second slip.

Not showing any nerves of a cricketer playing his first first-class game, Prasidh bowled a fine opening spell in the company of senior pro HS Sharath. The duo constantly pitched the ball up, hardly offering any freebies to the Bangladeshi batsmen, and forced them into committing errors.

While their attacking brand of cricket has brought them great success in the limited overs format, the Bangladeshi batsmen hardly showed the application required to counter the probing bowling in the longer version. Barring Liton Das (50 runs, 50 balls, 11x4) and Hom 55 (65b, 7x4, 1x6), who largely lived by the sword during their entertaining stay, none of the others had much response to Prasidh’s discipline.

In an opening spell of 7-1-21-4, the Mount Joy Cricket Club pacer simply blew away the Bangladeshi top-order after which Das and Hom just flung around their bats at different times to accumulate as many runs as they could.

Prasidh returned for a one-over spell just before lunch and he delivered for skipper CM Gautham, trapping Kamrul Islam leg-before to complete his five-wicket haul. Spinners Shreyas Gopal and J Suchith grabbed one wicket apiece while Udit Patel bagged the final two wickets as Karnataka set themselves up brilliantly.

However, the superb effort of Prasidh and company was quickly pushed to the background in the baking hot Mysuru sun with the host batsmen falling prey to the teasing left-arm spin of Sajin and accurate offie Hom. Seasoned names like Robin Uthappa, Gautham, R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal departed to loose shots and if not for a fighting effort from Bhavane (55 batting, 88b, 8x4, 1x6), Karnataka could have been shot out on the day as well.

With Bhavane looking good and Suchith giving him fine company in the unbroken seventh wicket stand of 63 runs, Karnataka would be hoping to extend their five-run lead on the second morning.

score board
BANGLADESH ‘A’: Anamul Haque b Prasidh 5 (26 balls, 1x4), Rony Talukdar c Bhavane b Prasidh 0 (1b), Mominul Haque c Shreyas b Sharath 1 (8b), Liton Das c Gautam b Suchith 50 (50b, 11x4), Soumya Sarkar c Bhavane b Prasidh 0 (3b), Nasir Hossain c Gautam b Prasidh 8 (6b, 1x4), Shuvagata Hom lbw Udit 55 (65b, 7x4, 1x6), Kamrul Islam lbw Prasidh 8 (27b, 1x4), Zubair Hossain c Abhishek b Shreyas 4 (5b, 1x4), Saqlain Sajib (not out) 15, Al Amin Hossain c Agarwal b Udit 5 (11b, 1x4). Extras (B-6, LB-1) 7. Total (all out, 38.4 overs) 158.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Talukdar), 2-1 (Mominul), 3-27 (Anamul), 4-27 (Sarkar), 5-41 (Nasir), 6-76 (Liton), 7-104 (Kamrul), 8-109 (Zubair), 9-148 (Hom),
Bowling: HS Sharath 7-2-28-1, Prasidh Krishna 12-2-49-5, Mayank Agarwal 1-0-5-0, Shreyas Gopal 9-1-36-1, J Suchith 6-1-22-1, Udit Patel 3.4-0-11-2.

KARNATAKA: R Samarth lbw Hom 25 (42b, 4x4), Mayank Agarwal b Sajib 16 (26b, 3x4), Abhishek Reddy lbw Hom 28 (38b, 5x4), Robin Uthappa c Nasir b Sajib 1 (15b), CM Gautham c Anamul b Sajib 3 (8b), Shreyas Gopal c Zubair b Hom 17 (28b, 2x4), Shishir Bhavane (batting) 55 (88b, 8x4, 1x6), J Suchith (batting) 14 (50b, 1x4). Extras (LB-3, NB-1) 4. Total (for 6 wkts, 49 overs) 163.

Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Agarwal), 2-52 (Samarth), 3-65 (Uthappa), 4-69 (Gautham), 5-75 (Abhishek), 6-100 (Shreyas).

Bowling: Al-Amin Hossain 9-0-31-0, Kamrul Islam 4-0-19-0 (NB-1), Saqlain Sajib 14-3-48-3, Shuvagata Hom 16-4-29-3, Zubair Hossain 3-0-27, Nasir Hossain 3-2-6-0.