Ranji Trophy | Karnataka in chase mode after Mumbai stretch lead to 324

Mumbai: Karnataka bowlers picked up five wickets in the morning session and another one off the second delivery post lunch to regain the lost ground on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal here on Sunday.

However, with the match fortunes swinging back and forth as both sides tussled to gain control, Karnataka let go of yet another advantage when they needed to take the remaining two Mumbai second innings wickets and restrict their overall lead to under 250.

Instead, a brilliant rear-guard act by No. 10 Tushar Deshpande, attacking the Karnataka speedsters and spinners alike for a 40-ball 47 (7x4, 2x6), and his 89-run stand for the ninth wicket with Tanush Kotian (48 not out) allowed Mumbai to take their lead to 324, pushing the visitors behind.

Mumbai, resuming their second essay at 189/2, were all out for 377. Karnataka knocked 113 runs off the target, losing Mayank Agarwal and skipper Devdutt Padikkal, needing another 212 for a semifinal berth. And, Mumbai need eight more wickets with Monday, weather permitting, most likely to produce a result.

The target of 325 may not seem huge as Karnataka had more than seven sessions to achieve it. It’s the wearing pitch assisting turn that they are wary of. Mumbai’s left-arm spinner Shams Mulani and off-spinner Tanush Kotian are more than a handful at this MCA-BKC ground when it starts turning.

Despite the cheap dismissal of first innings top-scorer Mayank Agarwal to the trap at deep backward square leg off Shardul Thakur, KL Rahul (60 n.o., 94b, 7x4) and Padikkal (39) played attractive strokes, picking up the gaps for boundaries and the odd six to give Karnataka a realistic chance of winning.

The two added 84 for the second wicket before Padikkal (39) was caught brilliantly left-handed at slips by Yashasvi Jaiswal off Kotian’s first delivery.

Earlier, Karnataka’s left-arm spinner Shikhar Shetty (3/45) picked up three of the five Mumbai wickets to fall in the first session.

Speedster Vidyadhar Patil drew first blood, dismissing Musheer Khan for 49 in the day’s first over, the rising delivery taking the outside edge en route to Kruthik, playing only his second Ranji game, for the first of his six catches in the innings. Add his stumping of Jaiswal on Saturday and Kruthik’s seven dismissals are a Karnataka record in Ranji Trophy.

Half-centurion Akash Anand (70), too, fell to a nick behind off Vidwath Kaverappa.

Thereafter, Shikhar bowled a tidy spell of 9-1-16-3 and saw the backs of the defensive Siddhesh Lad (LBW), left-hander Shams Mulani, sweeping from outside off and edging to Kruthik down the leg side and Thakur nicking to lone slip Rahul, the last two wickets falling four deliveries apart.

And, when Suryansh Shedge chased a widish delivery from Patil only to get an edge to Kruthik, Karnataka had Mumbai eight down for an overall lead of 234.

But, the patient Kotian and the aggressive Deshpande swung the momentum in Mumbai’s favour by taking the overall lead beyond 300. Kotian survoived some serious short-ball barrage, especially from Prasidh, twice in a row getting hit on his helmet while ducking.

Deshpande attacked the speedsters Prasidh and Vidyadhar before Vidwath’s short ball did him in, the ball ballooning behind for Kruthik to complete a smart catch diving forward.

Scoreboard -

Mumbai (I Innings): 120 Karnataka (I Innings): 173 Mumbai (II Innings) O/n: 189/2): Yashasvi Jaiswal st Kruthik b Shreyas 36 Akhil Herwadkar (run out) 33 Akash Anand c Kruthik b Kaverappa 70 Musheer Khan c Kruthik b Vidtadhar 49 Siddesh Lad lbw Shikhar 25 Suryansh Shedge c Kruthik b Vidyadhar 25 Shams Mulani c Kruthik b Shikhar 9 Shardul Thakur c Rahul b Shikhar 1 Tanush Kotian (not out) 48 Tushar Deshpande c Kruthik b Kaverappa 47 Mohit Avasthi c Kruthk b Prasidh 0. Extras (B-9 LB-14 W-9 NB-2) 34. Total (all out 98.3 overs) 377. Fall of wickets: 1-77 2-77 3-191 4-227 5-241 6-256 7-258 8-287 9-376. Bowling: Vidyadhar Patil 22-5-78-2 Prasidh Krishna 19.3-2-71-1 Vidwath Kaverappa 17-0-78-2 Shreyas Gopal 20-2-82-1 Shikhar Shetty 20-3-45-3. KARNATAKA (II Innings target: 325): Mayank Agarwal c Avasthi b Thakur 3 KL Rahul (batting) 60 Devdutt Padikkal c Jaiswal b Kotian 39 Karun Nair (batting) 9. Extras (LB-2) 2. Total (for 2 wkts 29 overs) 113 Fall of wickets: 1-12 2-96. Bowling: Shardul Thakur 5-1-24-1 Mohit Avasthi 5-0-18-0 Shams Mulani 8-0-32-0 Tushar Deshpande 5-0-23-0 Tanush Kotian 5-0-13-1 Musheer Khan 1-0-1-0. Other quarterfinals: Brief scores: At Indore: Jammu & Kashmir: 194 all out & (O/n: 84/5): 248 all out in 70.3 overs (Abdul Samad 32 Abid Mushtaq 41 Vanshaj Sharma 54 n.o. Sunil Kumar 26) vs Madhya Pradesh: 152 all out & 87/5 in 28 overs (Himanshu Mantri 31; Auqib Nabi 3-23 Abid Mushtaq 2-19).  At Kolkata: Andhra: 295 all out in 88.4 overs (Srikar Bharat 47 Shaik Rasheed 46 Ricky Bhui 83 Nitish Kumar Reddy 33; Mukesh Kumar 5-66 Akash Deep 4-79) vs Bengal: (O/n: 199/5): 418/6 in 146 overs (Sudip Kumar Gharami 216 n.o. Sumanta Gupta 81 Habib Gandhi 45 n.o.; KV Sasikanth 2-59 Saurabh Kumar 2-81).  At Jamshedpur: Jharkhand: 235 all out & 130 all out in 41.1 overs (Kumar Kushagra 34 Virat Singh 55; Abhay Negi 4-36 Mayank Mishra 5-22) lt to Uttarakhand: (O/n: 282/5): 371 all out in 122.3 overs (Avneesh Sudha 64 Kunal Chandela 68 Jagadeesha Suchith 70 Saurabh Rawat 32 Abhay Negi 46; Jatin Pandey 2-72 Sahil Raj 2-59 Saurabh Shekhar 2-75 Aditya Singh 2-57) by an innings and six runs. PoM: Mayank Mishra.