Ranji Trophy: Karnataka ease into quarters

Bengaluru: Karnataka got what they wanted from their final Ranji Trophy Elite Group C clash, securing a first-innings lead draw against Chandigarh and confirming their spot in the quarterfinals here on Monday. 

Having batted Chandigarh out of the game by posting a massive first innings score of 563/5 declared and thereby setting the visitors a total of 296 runs just to avoid follow-on, Karnataka had already secured their last-eight ticket on Sunday itself. The only question was if they would push for a win and clinch the top spot in the group.

At the start it certainly looked like that as off-spinner Shashi Kumar struck off the first ball of the day, trapping opener Shivam Bhambri leg-before. Chandigarh then forged a small recovery through Arslan Khan (63) and Manan Vohra (23) before a double blow brought Karnataka back into the contest.

First Shashi had Vohra caught and then from 122/2 it quickly became 122/3 after Koushik trapped Arslan. With two new batters at the crease and Karnataka bowlers smelling blood, it looked liked Karnataka may even walk away with a bonus point.

Karnataka, however, appeared to have lifted their foot off the pedal. They spread the field out, bowlers just went through the motions and Chandigarh, knowing they were in no danger of losing the contest, just batted for time.   

The teams then shook hands six over after tea, Chandigarh reaching 236/5 in 80 overs.

It can also be argued that Karnataka, whose bowlers have gone through the wringer in a hectic season with barely any recovery time, were conserving their energy for the quarterfinals which kicks off on Friday.

Karnataka, who finished second in the group with 27 points from 7 games behind Tamil Nadu (28), will take on Vidarbha on Nagpur in their last-eight battle. 

Elite Group C brief scores: At Hubballi: Chandigarh: 267 & (O/n: 61/0) 236/5 in 80 overs (Shivam Bhambri 33, Arslan Khan 63, Mayank Sidhu 56 n.o.; V Kaushik 2-26, Shashi Kumar 2-55) drew with Karnataka: 563/5 decl. Karnataka: 3 points; Chandigarh: 1 pt.

At Salem: Tamil Nadu: 435 & 71/1 in 7 overs (Narayan Jagadeesan 26) bt Punjab: 274 & (O/n: 180/4) 231 all out in 64.2 overs (Abhishek Sharma 36, Nehal Wadhera 109; Sai Kishore 4-80, Ajith Ram 3-52, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 3-23). Tamil Nadu: 6; Punjab: 0.

At Agartala: Tripura: 149 & 333 lt to Railways: 105 & 378/5 in 103 overs (Pratham Singh 169 n.o., Mohammed Saif 106, Arindam Ghosh 40; Manisankar Murasingh 3-81). Railways 6; Tripura 0.