Karnataka spinners fight back after late batting surge to put Saurashtra on back foot

Bengaluru: If the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B fixture against Saurashtra was all about rescue acts after each bump along the way for Karnataka, the second one turned out to be a day of hope and promise from their spinners. 

Karnataka, on the back of stretching their total to 372 all out in 117.3 overs from 325/9 with some late resurgence from the final two, proceeded to spin a web around Saurashtra and reduce them to 200/4 at Stumps, still trailing by 172 runs. 

While Dharmendrasinh Jadeja's exceptional seven-for (7/114) was the highlight for the hosts in the first innings, the advantage was driven home by Shreyas Gopal, who earlier in the day had brought up a well-made half-century, with his third session three-for (3/51).

The day's second session was when Karnataka began to drop their shoulders with Saurashtra running away with the momentum after managing to see off the new ball and settle in. As the officials called Tea, they were 137 for no loss in 38 overs with Chirag Jani and Harvik Desai unbeaten and untroubled.

But as it turned out, the visitors came into their own, reaping rewards for disciplined spin bowling with Shreyas, playing the starring role. 

He was well supported with some diligent bowling from Mohsin Khan (1/38) and Shikhar Shetty (0/58) who combined to bowl 29 overs, giving away 96 runs. 

Mohsin also picked up a timely wicket of Desai (43), trapping him in front to give Karnataka their first breakthrough. 

Shreyas, then, came into the groove and dismissed the well-set Jani (90) and Jay Gohil (3) to give the visitors some momentum. 

With Jani, Desai and Jay Gohil all dismissed, the onus was on Ansh Gosai to guide the innings forward with Arpit Vasavada, who refused to get bogged down against some quality spin. 

The partnership was promising but lasted only 33 balls as the former, deciding to ease some pressure, piled some more after giving Shreyas his third for the session and Karnataka their fourth. 

Earlier, half-centurion Smaran (77) managed to add just 11 to his overnight score. Gopal (56) also reached his fifty but was soon sent back by Jaydev Unadkat. 

The hosts continued to make further inroads into the lower-order as M Venkatesh (0) was out on the first ball. Shikhar (41) and Abhilash Shetty (1), who are known for their bowling, put their hands up and stitched a 98-ball 47-run partnership and added much-needed runs for Karnataka at the backend while frustrating Saurashtra. 

Group B: Brief scores: At Thiruvananthapuram: Maharashtra: (O/n: 179/7) 239 all out in 84.1 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 91, Jalaj Saxena 49, Vicky Ostwal 38, Ramakrishna Ghosh 31; MD Nidheesh 5-49; Nedumankuzhy Basil 3-57) vs Kerala: 35/3 in 10.4 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 27; Rajneesh Gurbani 2-20).

At Porvorim: Goa: (O/n: 291/3): 566 all out in 160.4 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 47, Abhinav Tejrana 205, Lalit Yadav 213, Darshan Misal 32; Vishu 7-173, Nishunk Birla 3-137) vs Chandigarh 34/1 in 18 overs.

At Indore: Punjab: 232 all out vs Madhya Pradesh: (O/n: 6/0): 305/6 in 93 overs (Himanshu Mantri 40, Shubham Sharma 41, Rajat Patidar 107, Venkatesh Iyer 73; Naman Dhir 3-72, Prerit Dutta 3-55).