By Vivek MV
Bengaluru: Karnataka's top class batting display put them in a commanding position against Delhi in their Group 'A' encounter on Friday.
On the second day of the contest here at the KSCA Alur (2) ground, all eyes were on opener Mayank Agarwal, who was 31 runs short of his double century. But Agarwal's stay in the middle was brief as he could add just seven runs to his overnight score of 169.
Karnataka though didn't wobble after the early dismissal as Stuart Binny (118, 155b, 18x4) owned the first-half of the day with a brilliant century while Shreyas Gopal crafted a fine innings of 92 (165b, 11x4, 1x6) to take the hosts to a mammoth 649 all out.
Delhi finished the day at 20 for no loss with Unmukt Chand (8 n.o.) and Gautam Gambhir (12 n.o.) at the crease. Delhi have a decent line-up to offer a fight but the visitors could be in trouble if the ball starts turning on the third day.
On a surface conducive for batting, Karnataka were further benefited from a lacklustre Delhi bowling. Skipper Rishabh Pant constantly shuffled his bowlers but all of them met the same fate. The 101-run tenth wicket stand between Shreyas and Abhimanyu Mithun (35 n.o.) was the reflection of the ease with which Karnataka batted through the day.
Earlier, Agarwal's showed needless hurry that brought his downfall. The right-hander went for a needless single after the ball had gone off his pads to point region off medium pacer Vikas Tokas. Binny, at the other end, wasn't interested in the run and Nitish Rana effected the dismissal with a direct hit.
Joining forces in the fifth over of the day, CM Gautam (46) and Binny scored at a fair clip to consolidate Karnataka's innings. Gautam, a busy customer, began in promising fashion as he collected two fours from stylish drives through the cover. The sweep shot too was productive but it also ended his knock. His sweep off left-arm spinner Manan Sharma took the top edge and Milind Kumar pouched a regulation catch at short fine leg.
Binny's knock was an exhibition of clean hitting. With the pace duo of Kulwant Khejroliya (1/122) and Navdeep Saini (1/80) pitching it either too short or too full, Binny found his boundaries through sweet timing. The all-rounder though reached his century in an edgy fashion. At 96, his attempted cut off Saini took an edge but Unmukt Chand dropped the catch at first slip to see the ball rush past the boundary rope.
Tokas pulled off a brilliant catch off his own bowling to remove Binny but a Shreyas special was awaiting Delhi. The leg-spinning all-rounder paced his innings in fine fashion. With less than 10 overs remaining, Shreyas attempted to up the ante as declaration loomed. After a six off Mishra, he was out the very next ball when his pre-meditated sweep failed.
"I wanted to be relaxed while batting this season and I am doing just that. I have tried to play a lot straighter this time as it helps me find the gaps. When I came in, I wanted to give myself 20 minutes to get settled and after I did that, I could explore many scoring opportunities," Binny told reporters.
DH News Service
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