Goa's late resistance frustrates Karnataka

Shivamogga: Arjun Tendulkar (43 not out) and Mohit Redkar (24 not out) tapped into their reservoir of resilience and showed their team-mates they could fight and compete with Karnataka to take Goa to 171 for six in 77 overs at stumps on day 3 at the KSCA Navule Stadium in Shivamogga here. 

They will now carry the belief of an unbeaten 56-run partnership and survival for 23.4 overs into the final day, trailing Karnataka by 200 runs and needing 50 more to avoid the follow-on.

Both players starred in fine rearguard act as Karnataka’s bowling attack toiled through the final session on a surface that was getting flatter by the day. 

While Karnataka were greeted with gloomy skies for almost the entire day, the hosts managed to pick up just five wickets in 64 overs before play was called off due to bad light at 5:17 pm. 

Mayank Agarwal threw everything at Goa, but in the end, it was the visitors who fought to live another session and saw the day through with four wickets in hand. 

Goa's ability to hold out may go a long way in determining the result, with Karnataka looking for an outright win after taking just a point from their first game. 

Earlier in the day, Karnataka arrived at the ground with hopes of a big first-innings lead. An hour into the play, with the game starting only at 10:30 am due to wet outfield, they picked up three wickets for 42 runs and had Goa staring down the barrel of a large deficit at 51/4.

Abhilash Shetty (3/63) and Vidwath Kaverappa (2/30) produced a fine burst of swing and seam bowling, making the ball scream outside edges every time it went past the bat. 

Not getting carried away by the movement they were getting, Vidwath and Abhilash also displayed control and didn't go searching for the wicket ball, bowling on the fourth and fifth sticks, giving no room for the batters to break free. 

Perfect setting

There is just something poetic about white jerseys on grass under grey skies with cool breeze. And for the fast bowlers, it was a day to bowl their hearts out. The sun was not beating down; Karnataka had bowled only 13 overs last evening and the cool conditions allowed the quicks to run in hard. 

Vidwath bowled one on a length, which persuaded Suyash Prabhudessai (12) to go for the expansive drive on the rise, only managing to brush it straight to Shrijith KL. It was an ideal way for the first wicket, given how the weather gods had tuned the conditions. 

Snehal Kauthankar (10) and Abhinav Tejrana (18), both misjudged deliveries on length off Vidwath and Abhilash respectively and were back in the hut. 

Lalit Yadav (36) followed his efforts against Chandigarh, where he scored 213, with another fighting innings, this time, batting time. 

Lalit, along with Darshan Misal (12), mixed caution with grit and stitched a 49-run partnership, batting 25 overs and avoided an embarrassing collapse. 

Yashovarshan Parantap finally broke the stand with a sharp, slightly short and angled in delivery at the body, taking the edge off Darshan to Karun Nair. 

While Goa have found an escape route to see off the third day, Karnataka will look to enforce a follow-on on the fourth. 

Cut-off box - SCOREBOARD 
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 371 all out
GOA (I Innings O/n: 28/1) Manthan Khutkar c Shrijith b Abhilash 9 (17b 1x4) Suyash Prabhudessai c Shrijith b Vidwath 12 (42b 1x4) Abhinav Tejrana c Nikin b Vidwath 18 (40b 3x4) Snehal Kauthankar c Shrijith b Abhilash 10 (15b 1x4) Lalit Yadav c Yashovardhan b Abhilash 36 (84b 1x4) Darshan Misal c Nair b Yashovardhan 12 (84b 1x4) Arjun Tendulkar 43 (batting) (115b 5x4 1x6) Mohit Redkar 24 (batting) (54b 2x4). EXTRAS (B-2 LB-4 NB-1) 7. TOTAL (for six wickets 77 overs) 171. 
Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Manthan) 2-29 (Suyash) 3-47 (Snehal) 4-51 (Abhinav) 5-100 (Darshan) 6-115 (Lalit). 
Bowling: Vidwath Kaverappa 18-5-30-2 Abhilash Shetty 18-3-63-3 Yashovardhan Parantap 16-6-18-1 Vyshak Vijaykumar 17-2-41-0 Shreyas Gopal 8-2-13-0. 
Group B brief scores: At Rajkot: Saurashtra: 260 all out in 88.4 overs (Harvik Desai 26 Chirag Jani 82 Ansh Gosai 38 Ravindra Jadeja 36 Parth Bhut 27 n.o; Aryan Pandey 4-31 Kumar Karthikeya 4-84) vs Madhya Pradesh: (O/n: 195/4) 355/9 in 135 overs (Harsh Bawali 32 Yash Dubey 159 Himanshu Mantri 32 Saransh Jain 103 n.o.; Jaydev Unadkat 4-32 Gajjar Sammar 2-26). 
At Chandigarh: Maharashtra: 313 all out & (O/n: 66/0) 359/3 decl in 52 overs (Prithvi Shaw 222  Arshin Kulkarni 31 Siddesh Veer 62 Ruturaj Gaikwad 36 n.o.) vs Chandigarh: 209 & 129/1 in 34 overs (Arjun Azad 63 n.o. Manan Vohra 53 n.o.). 
At New Chandigarh: Punjab 436 all out in 163.4 overs vs Kerala (O/n 15/1): 247/6 in 87 overs (Ankit Sharma 62 Rohan Kunnummal 43 Sachin Baby 36 Baba Aparajit 39 n.o.; Krish Bhagat 2-37 Naman Dhir 2-36).