Ranji Trophy | Ankit kills Karnataka’s hopes of quarterfinal berth

Bengaluru: Karnataka’s hopes of a miraculous a passage into the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals were crushed by a disciplined and determined Haryana, their in-form skipper Ankit Kumar leading the charge with an excellent century here on Friday.

Placed third in Elite Group C with 19 points, Karnataka needed nothing less than a bonus point win (7 points) over table-toppers Haryana (26) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to seal their ticket to the knockouts without having to worry about the outcome of the match between the second-placed Kerala (21) and the bottom-placed Bihar in Thiruvananthapuram.

The bonus-point win, however, became a must as Kerala expectedly demolished a hapless Bihar by an innings and 169 runs to rise to the top of the table temporarily with 28 points and seal their quarterfinal ticket. Karnataka’s faint hopes of doing the impossible were extinguished by the brilliance by Ankit (118, 154b, 19x4), whose fourth first-class century powered Haryana to 232/5 at stumps and also into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016/17 season. 

Although the confirmation of Karnataka’s exit came only late in the evening, the nails were hammered in their coffin in the opening hour itself by the Haryana pace trio of  Anshul Kamboj, Ajit Chahal and Anuj Thakral. Karnataka’s hopes of scoring a massive win hinged on them posting a huge first-innings total but Kamboj, Chahal and Thakral ensured it was Haryana who would go on to dominate the contest with an exceptional performance in the morning.

Like they did on the opening day, they were right on the money from the very onset. They pitched the ball up, kept it in and around the off-stump line and got some to swing in, making life extremely difficult for the overnight pair of KL Shrijith and Yashovardhan Parantap. 

Although the duo had showed good character the previous evening, the challenge was a whole lot tougher on Friday morning. The new ball was taken, the pacers were fresh and the chilly morning was tailor-made for the Haryana pacers to wreak havoc. And they did which cooked Karnataka’s goose.

Shrijith survived a reprieve off the very first ball the second new ball was taken, Ankit dropping him at slip in the 90th over. But Karnataka’s joy didn’t last long when Parantap was dismissed in the 96th over. From then on, the procession started, the lower order falling like a pack of cards. Kamboj (2/7), Chahal (1/12) and Thakral (2/14) cleaning up Karnataka with top-notch spells.

With batters fumbling, the onus was on the pace trio of Prasidh Krishna, Vidwath Kaverappa and V Koushik to haul Karnataka back. Sadly, neither of the three clicked in the do-or-die day. Trying to ape the Haryana strategy of bowling just outside off-stump, all three erred by bowling a bit too wide that made life easier for Ankit and his opening partner Lakshya Dalal.

Ankit, aware defensive cricket could boomerang, opted for an aggressive approach and his strategy paid handsome dividends as Haryana motored along smoothly.

They reached 54/0 at lunch and then took tea at 140/1 in 42 overs which deflated Karnataka completely. The hosts showed some fight in the final session through all-rounder Parantap (2/42) but it was too late by then.

Cut-off box - SCORE BOARD
KARNATAKA (I Innings O/n: 267/5): Aneesh KV b Kamboj 17 (67b 2x4) Mayank Agarwal c Kamboj b Thakral 91 (149b 8x4 3x4) KL Rahul c Rohit b Kamboj 26 (37b 4x4) Devdutt Padikkal lbw Thakral 43 (93b 4x4) R Smaran lbw Sindhu 35 (48b 4x4) KL Shrijith c Kamboj b Thakral 37 (70b 3x4) Yashovardhan Parantap c Ankit b Chahal 35 (124b 2x4) Hardik Raj c Rohit b Thakral 1 (2b) Prasidh Krishna b Kamboj 1 (5b) V Koushik (not out) 1 (4b) Vidwath Kaverappa b Kamboj 2 (9b). Extras (B-4 LB-5 W-4 NB-2) 10. TOTAL (all out 101 overs) 304. 
Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Aneesh) 2-99 (Rahul) 3-161 (Agarwal) 4-220 (Padikkal) 5-222 (Smaran) 6-286 (Parantap) 7-290 (Hardik) 8-301 (Prasidh) 9-301 (Shrijith).
Bowling: Anshul Kamboj 22-6-32-4 Ajit Chahal 22-5-64-1 Anuj Thakral 20–2-88-4 Nishanth Sindhu 19-3-45-1 Jayant Yadav 18-2-66-0.
HARYANA (I Innings): Lakshya Dalal c Rahul b Parantap 22 (75b 4x4) Ankit Kumar c sub b Hardik 118 (154b 19x4) Yuvraj Singh c Padikkal b Parantap 33 (68b 3x4) Himanshu Rana lbw Koushik 5 (25b 1x4) Himanshu Rana 5 (25b 1x4) Nishant Sindhu (batting) 35 (46b 3x4 1x6) Dheeru Singh b Prasidh 8 (10b 2x4) Rohit Sharma (batting) 9 (18b 1x4). Extras (B-1 LB-1) 2. Total (for 5 wkts 66 overs) 232. 
Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Dalal) 2-152 (Yuvraj Singh) 3-165 (Rana) 4-198 (Ankit) 5-209 (Dheeru).
Bowling: V Koushik 18-4-48-1 Vidwath Kaverappa 16-4-53-0 Prasidh Krishna 13-1-54-1  Yashovardhan Parantap 11-2-42-2 Hardik Raj 8-1-33-1.
Other Elite C brief scores: At Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala: (O/n: 302/9) 351 all out in 101.2 overs (Salman Nizar 150; Harsh Singh 2-40 Ghulam Rabbani 2-37 Sachin Kumar 2-87) bt Bihar: 64 all out in 23.1 overs (MD Nidheesh 2-23 Jalaj Saxena 5-19) & (f/o) 118 all out in 41.1 overs (Sakibul Gani 31 Veer Pratap Singh 30; Aditya Sarwate 3-27 Jalaj Saxena 5-34) by an innings and 169 runs. Points: Kerala: 7; Bihar: 0.    
At Kolkata: Punjab: 191 all out in 57.2 overs & 64/3 in 21 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 28 n.o.) vs Bengal: (O/n: 119/4)  343 all out in 92.4 overs (Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 111 Abhishek Porel 52 Mohammed Kaif 27; Guano Brar 4-74 Sahil Khan 3-105).
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh: (O/n: 335/1) 670/7 decl in 160 overs (Harsh Gawli 258 Shubham Sharma 208 Subhranshu Senapati 44 Sagar Solanki 72; Vijay Kumar 3-94 Kuldeep Yadav 3-124) vs Uttar Pradesh: 95/0 in 15 overs (Abhishek 66 n.o. Madhav Kaushik 26 n.o.).