Ranji Trophy: Devdutt Padikkal misses ton, but Karnataka marginally ahead

Bengaluru: Quality half-centuries by Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair and Smaran R, backed up by Shreyas Gopal’s undefeated 38, powered Karnataka to 295 for 5 on a see-sawing opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B opener against Saurashtra at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Wednesday.  

Padikkal (96) and Nair (73) would be disappointed with their dismissals when centuries beckoned both the batters. Nonetheless, their recovery role at the top and Smaran-Shreyas’ rearguard act helped Karnataka stay marginally ahead of the hosts. 

With the Rajkot strip offering a bit of assistance for the spinners, Saurashtra’s Dharmendrasinh Jadeja made full use of it, finishing the day with 4/100 in 30 overs. He also picked up his 400th first-class wicket along the way. 

After calling it right at the toss, Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal opted to bat first, possibly looking to bowl last on the surface, having picked three spinners in Shreyas Gopal, Mohsin Khan and Shikhar Shetty. The two of their trusted pace duo in Vidwath Kaverappa and Vyashak Vijayakumar were not available for selection for different reasons. While Vidwath had to attend an interview for a job, Vyshak was injured. 

Openers Agarwal and Nikin Jose struggled with the ball jagging around in the first 30 minutes of play, with Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya operating with the new rock.

The good bowling was rewarded in the tenth over, however, to first-change and left-arm orthodox Jadeja, who drew first blood and sent Agarwal packing for just two. 

Saurashtra struck again in the 14th over, as Jose fell to Jadeja, after scoring 12 runs.  

Padikkal, after two days on the field against West Indies and having flown overnight to Rajkot, didn’t show any signs of fatigue and looked in imperious touch, playing shots all over the park, collecting 11 fours. However, he had to walk back, missing out on a well-deserved hundred. 

On the other hand, Nair, in his first innings back for Karnataka, scored a handy 73, while stitching a 146-run partnership with Padikkal when Karnataka were struggling at 26/2. Once both batters walked back to the pavilion after bailing out the visitors from a tough situation, Smaran, in just his ninth first-class game, held fort and scored an unbeaten 66. 

Shrijith KL’s short 15-ball 5-run stay was ended by Yuvrajsinh Dodiya to put Karnataka in a bit of trouble again at 214/5 in the 67th over. 

With some tired legs late on the first day of the domestic season, Smaran and Shreyas remained busy and unbeaten in the middle and saw the day though without any further hiccups adding an unbeaten 81-run partnership. 

Group B: Brief scores: At Thiruvananthapuram: Maharashtra: 179/7 in 59 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 91, Jalaj Saxena 49; MD Nidheesh 4-42; Nedumankuzhy Basil 2-44) vs Kerala.

At Porvorim: Goa: 291/3 in 86 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 47, Abhinav Tejrana 130 n.o., Lalit Yadav 80 n.o.; Vishu 3-86) vs Chandigarh. 

At Indore: Punjab: 232 all out in 84.3 overs (Uday Sharan 75, Naman Dhir 39, Krish Bhagat 39 n.o.; Saransh Jain 6-76) vs Madhya Pradesh: 6/0 in 3 overs.