Dominant Karnataka take lead on day two

Cricket Ranji Trophy : Uthappa, Agarwal slam patient half-centuries

 After their bowlers had called the shots on day one, the powerful batting line-up of Karnataka dominated the second day’s proceedings as the defending champions strengthened their grip over Odisha in their Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy encounter here at the SDNRW Stadium on Sunday.

Mayank Agarwal (78) , Robin Uthappa (83 batting) and Karun Nair (52 batting) struck fluent half centuries to help the hosts finish at a healthy 255 for three, with a lead of 23 runs under their belt.

Resuming from their overnight score of 16 for no loss, Karnataka batsmen, responding to Odisha’s modest first innings total of 232, made steady progress and stitched useful partnerships to frustrate the visiting bowlers, even though the progress was a bit slow.
Scoring at a rate of 2.65 runs per over, Karnataka’s batting wasn’t entirely marked by aggression. But their calculative approach has given them a good chance of building a good lead and put more pressure on their rivals. That Karnataka has seven wickets in hand make them more dangerous, leaving Odisha with too many things to worry about ahead of the third day.

After losing Samarth off the second ball of the day, Agarwal and Abhishek Reddy didn’t allow the Odisha bowlers to gain control as the duo forged a crucial second wicket alliance of 77 runs. Agarwal, known for his explosive style of play, scripted a responsible knock. The 24-year-old was quick on punishing the loose balls and rotated the strike on a consistent basis. Agarwal’s knock, which came off 149 balls, included eight fours.

Though Mohanty removed Reddy a couple of overs before lunch and bagged the scalp of a well-set Agarwal early in the second session, Odisha’s inability to trouble the new batsmen hurt them badly.

Uthappa, who was a bit tentative against the spinners in the beginning, looked solid as he spent more time in the middle and the in-form batsman slammed seven stylish boundaries and one maximum en route his unbeaten knock. The experienced batsman, who is just 17 runs short of his second ton of the season, scripted an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 128 runs with Nair to help Karnataka claim the lead.

The visitors, after an ordinary batting performance, needed a strong effort from their bowlers to upstage the quality Karnataka batting unit. However, barring the disciplined efforts of medium pacer Basant Mohanty, none of their bowlers looked threatening. On a turning track, Odisha’s only specialist spinner Dhiraj Singh failed to impress. The left-arm spinner either bowled quicker through the air or pitched it too short, failing to trouble the Karnataka batsmen.

If Uthappa was the aggressor in the second session, Nair upped the ante in the third and final session. The middle-order batsman cruised to his second fifty of the season, with the help of one huge six and three fours.

score board

ODISHA (I Innings): 232
KARNATAKA (I Innings, O/n: 16/0): R Samarth lbw Pradhan 3 (21b), Mayank Agarwal c Dhuper b Mohanty 78 (149b, 8x4), Abhishek Reddy lbw Mohanty 36 (102b, 2x4, 1x6), Robin Uthappa (batting) 83 (181b, 7x4, 1x6), Karun Nair (batting) 52 (130b, 3x4, 1x6). Extras (NB-1, W-1, LB-1) 3. Total (for 3 wkts, in 97 overs) 255. 
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Samarth), 2-96 (Reddy), 3-128 (Agarwal).

Bowling: Basant Mohanty 23-7-41-2, Dhiraj Singh 31-4-102-0 (NB-1), Amit Das 5-0-25-0 (W-1), Suryakant Pradhan 16-4-36-1, Biplab Samanthray 17-2-34-0, Govinda Poddar 5-1-16-0.