More bowls Karnataka to dramatic win over Railways

At around 4.00 pm on Wednesday, Karnataka were one dismissal away from conceding the innings lead to Railways.

At exactly 2:37 pm the following day, they walked away with seven points from the very same Elite Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy contest at the Karnail Singh stadium.

While Sharath Srinivas deserves credit for dragging Karnataka past Railways’ first-innings tally of 182, it was Ronit More who earned Karnataka the bonus-point victory on Thursday as the paceman bowled with impact seldom seen this season and scalped six wickets on a flavourless pitch to bundle the hosts out for 79.

Karnataka, who finished their first essay on 211 to pick up a 27-run lead, were left with 51 runs to win. With R Samarth out due to an injury he picked up while fielding in the second innings, Rohan Kadam (27 not out) opened with Devdutt Padikkal (24 not out), and the duo completed the task without the loss of a wicket in 8.2 overs.

Karun Nair’s men now move to 24 points from six games. With two home games remaining in their league itinerary, Karnataka, are fourth on the cross pool table, can now afford to go into the next two contests without thinking about a metaphorical guillotine coming for their necks.

While Yere Goud’s inputs would have come in handy, none of what the coach used to inspire would have mattered had Srinivas not shown gumption in the face of disaster and More not bowled out of his skin.

It all came down to execution, and Karnataka showed that they could, if push came to shove, put on a show worthy of their reputation.

Resuming the innings on 199 for 9, Srinivas and Prateek Jain hung around for little over half-an-hour before the wicketkeeper became T Pradeep’s only victim in 15.1 overs.

Srinivas and Jain, for facing out 34 crucial deliveries, had done their job. Now, the question was if Karnataka’s pace trio of A Mithun, Jain and More could do theirs. The answer arrived swiftly.

After Jain dismissed Ashish Sehrawat in the last ball of the second over, the seasoned Mithun got into the act, scalping Saurabh Singh and the gritty Arindam Ghosh within 14 runs of each other. Then came the More mania.

Usually the most docile member of the side, More donned an aggressive mask and fired it at Railways’ middle-order. His modus operandi was to keep it on the stumps and wait for the wicket to do what it has done the last four days. The strip disappointed in that it played dead under the sun, but More’s tight lengths and clever use of the bouncer sent back Mahesh Rawat and Harsh Tyagi.

As a discussion took shape between Nair and More, likely to decide whether the bowler should stay on or be replaced by Jain from the South End, the skipper relented to the pacer’s request of one over before roaming the ropes.

It was the 28th over, and the signs were good when he packed off Dinesh More with a vicious short ball upfront. It got better when Avinash Yadav’s off-stump saw lift-off. And then there was the clincher in Pradeep’s lbw. Three wickets in an over with the score on 63. More wasn’t going anywhere.

Mithun, as if to compliment his partner’s effort, got rid of Mrunal Devdhar (38), who was the only double-digit scorer in this innings for Railways, with the hosts still on 63. More rounded it off, dismissing Amit Mishra to walk off with the match ball and his best first-class figures.

It was now only a matter if Karnataka would finish with six or seven points. Padikkal and Kadam ensured the latter.

SCORE BOARD

RAILWAYS (I Innings): 182 all out.

KARNATAKA (I Innings, o/n: 199/9 in 65 overs): Sharath Srinivas b Pradeep 62 (231m, 191b, 5x4), Prateek Jain (not out) 8 (87m, 34b). Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-1, NB-2) 9. Total (all out, 71.1 overs) 211.

Fall of wickets: 9-177 (More).

Bowling: Amit Mishra 20-4-70-5 (nb-2), T Pradeep 15.1-5-29-0 (w-1), Himanshu Sangwan 18-3-57-3, Avinash Yadav 12-0-36-1, Harsh Tyagi 6-0-13-0.

RAILWAYS (I Innings): Mrunal Devdhar c Siddharth b A Mithun 38 (169m, 82b, 6x4), Ashish Sehrawat c KV Siddharth b Prateek Jain 0 (11m, 6b), Saurabh Singh lbw A Mithun 0 (12m, 5b), Arindam Ghosh c Sharath Srinivas c Mithun 3 (43m, 24b), Mahesh Rawat c Srinivas 5 (12m, 3b, 1x4), Harsh Tyagi c Srinivas b Ronit More 8 (55m, 34b, 1x4), Dinesh Mor c Devdutt Padikkal b More 6 (21m, 11b), Avinash Yadav b More 0 (3m, 2b), T Pradeep lbw More 0 (2m, 3b), Amit Mishra c Jain b More 8 (12m, 6b, 1x6), Himanshu Sangwan (not out) 8 (9m, 5b, 2x4). Extras (NB-1, B-1, LB-1) 3. Total (all out, 30 overs) 79.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Sehrawat), 2-1 (Saurabh), 3-15 (Ghosh), 4-20 (Rawat), 5-42 (Tyagi), 6-63 (Mor), 7-63 (Yadav), 8-63 (Pradeep), 9-63 (Devdhar).

Bowling: A Mithun 9-3-17-3, Prateek Jain 10-4-28-1, Ronit More 11-3-32-6 (nb-1).

KARNATAKA (II Innings, Target: 51 runs): Rohan Kadam 27 (38m, 31b, 4x4), Devdutt Padikkal 27 (38m, 19b, 3x4). Total (for no loss, 8.2 overs) 51.

Bowling: Amit Mishra 3-0-20-0, Himanshu Sangwan 3-0-17-0, T Pradeep 1.2-0-9-0, Avinash Yadav 1-0-5-0.

Result: Karnataka won by ten wickets.

Points: Karnataka: 7; Railways: 0.