Karnataka pay price for inconsistency

cricket ranji trophy

Karnataka's inconsistent Ranji Trophy campaign came to a forgettable end as a red-hot Bengal wrapped up a thoroughly dominant victory to march to the final here on Tuesday.

As Karnataka resumed the fourth morning on 98/3 chasing 352 for an improbable win, it was more a matter of how soon Bengal would pop up the champagne that has been on ice since the second evening. And the hosts finally got to savour the celebratory drink at 11:07 am when Akash Deep rattled the stumps of Abhimanyu Mithun, Karnataka suffering a third successive semifinal defeat and a big one at that — 174 runs.

While sizzling young pacer Ishan Porel was the wrecker-in-chief in the first innings, senior most quickie Mukesh Kumar (6/61) was the main architect in the second. Dismissing star batsman Manish Pandey in his second over of the day — third of the morning — and then removing KV Siddharth and Sharath Srinivas off successive deliveries in his third, Mukesh blew apart the out-of-sorts Karnataka batting line-up with a sensational spell of 9-4-28-5. Karnataka batsmen, like in the first innings, had no answer to hostile bowling in challenging conditions and promptly folded up for 177 in 55.3 overs.

Failure to bat well on testing pitches, which are seen more often in domestic circuit nowadays as teams chase wins rather than settling for 3 points owing to tough knockout qualifying format, has been Karnataka’s biggest problem this season. Yes, they amassed big runs in annexing the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy but the bulk of scoring was done by the triumvirate of K L Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and Pandey with Rohan Kadam contributing handsomely in the shortest format.

Rahul and Pandey missed the entire group campaign owing to national duty, and while Padikkal started off well in Ranji Trophy his form tapered off in the last few games. Samarth, coming into the season on the back of a poor run, redeemed himself with 534 runs in 9 games (he’s the only centurion for Karnataka), while KV Sidhharth — returning from a shoulder injury — was decent with 331 from six games. Karnataka were dismissed below 300 on 10 occasions with the highest score being 426.

The biggest letdown was Karun Nair, the skipper managing just 366 runs at a pathetic average of 26.14 in 9 games. Barring the Deodhar Trophy at the start of the season, the 28-year-old has been having a wretched run for two straight seasons and that has had a debilitating effect on the team. Shockingly, to accommodate him, the management has had to shuffle the batting order at times. When presented with the question of why Nair is being given such a long rope as compared to the others, the answer from both the skipper and the management is that he’s batting well but runs aren’t coming. Every follower of the game knows its runs and wickets (for bowlers) that matter.

“Coming into three semifinals is a big achievement to be honest,” said the soft-spoken coach Yere Goud on Tuesday. “It’s difficult to qualify. From 18 teams only 5 qualify. We’ll address our woes, like playing against the moving ball and turning ball, during the pre-season. Batting for four sessions is another thing that we need to address.”

Another worry for Karnataka has been their bowling. Ace leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal, who even captained the side against Saurashtra, hit a rough patch while left-arm orthodox J Suchith couldn’t grab the chances with both hands. Off-spinner K Gowtham showed his class with some special performances but couldn’t find a partner in crime. Amongst pacers, Abhimanyu Mithun and Ronit More did well although the latter’s struggles with no-ball cost him three wickets.

Fielding too wasn’t of the highest standards with Karnataka dropping several catches this season. Wicket-keepers Sharath Srinivas and BR Sharath are still a work in progress and need to sharpen their skills next season.

Two trophies is not a bad return but ask any member of the side and they would say Ranji Trophy is what they would have wanted in their cupboard. Many issues need to be addressed if they wish to make it nine titles next season.