JOIN USKarnataka scent first win
The voice of Suhas Naidu echoed around the Sawai Mansingh stadium. Karnataka had finally come into their own against Rajasthan and the loyal fan of the champion side alone turned out to be louder than the few home fans, who had gathered to watch the Ranji Trophy Group A encounter on Sunday.
Robin Uthappa added to the bowler’s good work by hitting a crackerjack innings of 160 off 128 balls (25x4, 4x6) and the defending champions could well sniff their first victory of the season at the end of the third day’s proceedings.
In the morning, R Vinay Kumar and S Arvind wiped out Rajasthan’s tail which could add only 23 runs in 9.3 overs to their second day’s total of 219 for 7. With a first innings lead of 39 runs, Karnataka expectedly scored at a fast clip.
Their cause was propelled by the quickfire knocks of Uthappa, who came down at No 4 to score his first century of the season, and Abhishek Reddy (69), who was promoted to open the innings. Their effort allowed Karnataka to declare their second innings at 318/5 in the middle of the post-tea session and hand Rajasthan a 358-run target to chase.
With 15 overs left in the day, Karnataka pacers, led by Arvind, did what was expected of them. The hosts were in a spot of bother at 42/3 with opener Pranay Sharma (24) and night watchman Tanveer Ul Haq (0) at the crease at stumps with Rajasthan still needing 316 to win.
It was a day dominated by Karnataka. Ranji Trophy debutant Reddy had a terrible outing on Saturday but made amends with an attacking knock when he replaced Uthappa to join Mayank Agarwal as the opener. Karnataka also benefited when Rajasthan’s strike bowler Deepak Chahar pulled his hamstring after bowling just two balls of his opening over and had to limp out of the ground. Rajasthan had to make up for the loss with their left-arm spinner Ajay Singh, who ended up yielding 104 runs from his 15 overs.
The visitors lost first innings half-centurions Agarwal and R Samarth early but Reddy and later Uthappa ran through the host’s attack. They went berserk in the second session which produced as many as 181 runs. Uthappa found the fence 18 times during that period. His second wicket stand with Reddy was worth 101, with 73 of those runs coming from the senior batsman’s blade. Reddy was stumped when he danced down the track to slog Rajat Bhatia but with Uthappa in that mood, the Karnataka dressing room had little to worry. Later, Stuart Binny and CM Gautam (36 n.o.) kept the runs flowing with useful contributions.
Uthappa left nothing to chance. There was barely any stroke that didn’t come from his willow. No bowler remained unscathed from his bullish charge. The reverse sweep stood out from his repertoire, so did the two successive sixes that went over mid-wicket off Singh. He brought his century the way he had batted throughout his innings, a straight six off Singh and celebrated by bowing to the dressing room. In another 26 balls, he was waving his bat for 150. Choudhary brought curtains to his blitzkrieg when Uthappa failed to clear Ashok Menaria at cover.
But by then the damage was done and Karnataka declared soon after. The bowlers responded likewise. The defending champions could have had four wickets in their kitty had J Suchith not dropped Pranay at point off Vinay. Arvind induced nicks from Vineet Saxena and Vaibav Deshpande before David Mathias bowled captain Menaria, the ball swinging in and sounding the timber. Karnataka, undoubtedly, would be restless to take the field on Monday.
score board
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 281
RAJASTHAN (I Innings; O/n: 270/8): Deepak Chahar c Samarth b Vinay 13 (15b, 1x4, 1x6), Ajay Singh c Gautam b Arvind 6 (13b ,1x4), Tanveer Ul Haq c Gautam b Arvind 8 (29b, 1x4), Aniket Choudhary (not out) 15 (20b, 2x4). Extras (B-4, NB-3, W-2) 9. Total (all out, in 91.4 overs) 242.
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Pranav), 2-13 (Saxena), 3-44 (Deshpande), 4-48 (Menaria), 5-124 (R Yadav), 6-184 (Yagnik), 7-212 (Bhatia), 8-219(Chahar), 9-219 (Ajay).
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 22-9-42-3 (W-1), S Arvind 24.4-12-42-3, Stuart Binny 12-1-39-1 (W-1), David Mathias 12-3-41-2 (NB-2), Shreyas Gopal 10-0-30-0, J Suchith 7-1-24-0, R Samarth 2-0-2-0, Abhishek Reddy 2-0-18-0 (NB-1).
KARNATAKA (II Innings): Abhishek Reddy st Yagnik b Bhatia 69 (115b, 7x4, 1x6), Mayank Agarwal c Chahar b Tanveer 8 (25b, 1x4), R Samarth 6 (22b, 1x4), Robin Uthappa c Menaria b Choudhary 160 (128b, 25x4, 4x6), Stuart Binny c sub b Ajay 29 (33b, 4x4, 1x6), CM Gautam (not out) 36 (52b, 4x4), J Suchith (not out) 3(5b). Extras (B-1, LB-4, NB-2) 7. Total (for 5 wkts decl, in 63 overs) 318.
Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Agarwal), 2-58 (Vinay) , 3-159 (Abhishek), 4-210 (Binny) , 5-307 (Uthappa).
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 0.2-0-0-0, Tanveer-ul-Haq 12.4-2-58-1, Aniket Choudhary 14-0-90-1 (NB-2), Rajat Bhatia 17-5-44-2, Ajay Singh 15-0-104-1, Ashok Menaria 4-0-17-0.
RAJASTHAN (II Innings): Pranay Sharma (batting) 24 (47b, 5x4), Vineet Saxena c Gautam b Arvind 6 (14b, 1x4), Vaibhav Deshpande c Samarth b Arvind 0 (4b), Ashok Menaria b Mathias 9 (9b, 2x4), Tanveer-ul-Haq (batting) 0 (17b). EXTRAS (NB-1, LB-2) 3. Total (for 3 wkts, in 15 overs) 42.
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Saxena), 2-23 (Deshpande), 3-38 (Menaria).
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 5-2-16-0 (NB-1), S Arvind 6-2-20-2, David Mathias 2-1-4-1, Stuart Binny 2-2-0-0.