Ranji Trophy | Karnataka stumble to first defeat

Bengaluru: There are few challenges in red-ball cricket that can rival a final day’s test of survival. And for an injury-hit Karnataka to survive 83 overs, it required their batters to show plenty of fight and a bit of luck to deny Madhya Pradesh a win after playing catch up for most parts of their penultimate Ranji Trophy Elite Group B game in Alur (1) here. 

While they did bring those qualities to the table in phases for 67.5 overs, it was not for the hosts to prevent their first loss of the season -- a 217-run drubbing has pushed down Karnataka to third spot on the table with 21 points as Maharashtra (24) and Madhya Pradesh (22) occupied the top two spots ahead of group’s final round of matches.

Karnataka now must win their final game against Punjab to advance to the knockouts. 

“I am very positive and hopeful about doing well against Punjab. We will bounce back stronger in the coming games,” Karnataka coach Yere Goud said after the game. 

With MP declaring at 229/8 in 75.1 overs early on day 4, Karnataka needed 362 for an improbable win. However, they suffered another collapse on a surface with no demons as the spinners, Sagar Solanki (3/20) and Saransh Jain (3/37), spun a web around them. 

Their struggles were compounded by Karun Nair’s inability to bat, having been ruled out on the fourth morning. BCCI’s “serious injury replacement substitute” came into effect as the injury was external and they turned towards Nikin Jose (26, 101b, 2x4). 

The defeat looked inevitable for the home team when two of their other India Test internationals collectively made seven runs. While looking to be positive, Mayank Agarwal (7, 21b) nicked a good length delivery off Aryan Pandey (2/9) to slip. 

Aryan, who did not look as sharp on the third morning, picked up his second in three balls after Devdutt Padikkal (0, 2b) completely misread the line and had his stumps go for a stroll. 

“It was a poor performance, which let us down. The wicket was good to bat on. We needed to adapt, we could not,” Goud added. 

Only Aneesh KV (57, 142b, 7x4) inspired a fightback, defending resolutely for 226 minutes and batting with confidence after scoring 92 in the first innings. 

With Nikin, he raised a 61-run stand for the fourth wicket. The partnership broke when Nikin was undone by Saransh, trapping him in front. Shreyas Gopal (1), too, didn’t last long and was knocked over by Sagar in the next over. 

After reaching his second fifty of the game, Aneesh’s vigil ended when he was caught behind in the 56th over. Vidyadhar Patil (26 not out) entertained with some good hits but only managed to delay the inevitable as he ran out of partners. 

Earlier, MP added 25 runs in 4.1 overs to their overnight total. Continuing his fine run, Vidyadhar finished with figures of 4/54.

Himanshu Mantri (96, 214b, 4x4) looked to shift gears eyeing a seventh first-class hundred but fell four runs short after Shreyas (2/58) castled him with a quicker one. 

SCOREBOARD MADHYA PRADESH (I Innings):  323 all out KARNATAKA (I Innings): 191 all out MADHYA PRADESH (II Innings (O/n: 204/6): Yash Dubey lbw Shikhar 17 (54b 2x4) Himanshu Mantri b Shreyas 96 (214b 4x4) Shubham Sharma b Vidyadhar 32 (49b 3x4) Rajat Patidar b Vidyadhar 0 (2b) Venkatesh Iyer b Shreyas 1 (3b) Akshat Raghuwanshi b Shikhar 13 (28b 1x4) Saransh Jain retd hurt 15 (31b 1x4 1x6) Sagar Solanki lbw Vidyadhar 13 (32b 2x4) Aryan Pandey c Agarwal b Vidyadhar 18 (28b 2x4) Kumar Kartikeya (not out) 11 (10b 2x4). Extras (W-8 B-5) 13. TOTAL (for 8 wkts 75.1 overs) 229 decl.  Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Yash) 2-96 (Shubham) 3-96 (Patidar) 4-99 (Venkatesh) 5-123 (Akshat) 6-179 (Sagar) 7-212 (Aryan) 8-229 (Himanshu). Bowling: Vidwath Kaverappa 14-4-32-0 Vidyadhar Patil 18-5-54-4 Vyshak Vijaykumar 11-1-39-0 Shikhar Shetty 11-0-41-2 Shreyas Gopal 21.1-3-58-2.  KARNATAKA (II Innings): Aneesh KV c Mantri b Kuldeep 57 (142b 7x4) Mayank Agarwal c Akshat b Aryan 7 (21b 1x4) Devdutt Padikkal b Aryan 0 (2b) Nikin Jose lbw Saransh 26 (101b 2x4) Shreyas Gopal b Sagar 1 (3b) Abhinav Manohar lbw Sagar 6 (37b 1x4) Shrijith KL c&b Sagar 0 (1b) Vidyadhar Patil (not out) 26 (69b 5x4) Vyshak Vijaykumar c&b Kartikeya 8 (21b 1x4) Shikhar Shetty b Saransh 1 (11b) Vidwath Kaverappa b Saransh 0 (1b). Extras: (W-1 NB-2 B-5 LB-4) 12 TOTAL (all out 67.5 overs) 144.  Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Agarwal) 2-15 (Padikkal) 3-76 (Nikin) 4-77 (Shreyas) 5-91 (Abhinav) 6-91 (Shrijith) 7-114 (Aneesh) 8-133 (Vyshak) 9-144 (Shikhar).  Bowling: Aryan Pandey 7-4-9-2 Saransh Jain 19.5-4-37-3 Kumar Kartikeya 18-6-42-1 Kuldeep Sen 9-1-27-1 Sagar Solanki 14-5-20-3.  PoM: Saransh Jain. Karnataka’s next match: Punjab (Jan 29).  Other Group B scores: In Pune: Goa: 209 all out & (O/n: 210/6) 248 all out in 97 overs (Abhinav Tejrana 109 Darshan Misal 65; Jalaj Saxena 5-81 HA Walunj 3-45) vs Maharashtra: 350 all out & 109/2 in 21.2 overs (Arshin Kulkarni 52 n.o.). Maharashtra: 6 pts; Goa: 0.