Ranji Trophy: Karnataka's Pandey pins blame on senior players for loss against Uttar Pradesh

Hosts were bowled out for 114 in the second innings after a healthy 98-run first-innings lead

A self-admonishing Manish Pandey held back no punches as he put the onus of a heartbreaking quarterfinal loss to Uttar Pradesh on senior players, especially the batsmen.

The hosts were bowled out for 114 in the second innings and despite a healthy 98-run first-innings lead, they couldn't stop Uttar Pradesh from emerging five-wicket winners and moving into the semifinals.

“Definitely disappointing from a batting point of view, as a batsman myself and another batting group," began Pandey. "The second innings - this was not among the best batting performances we had of late. But yesterday (Tuesday) was not a day we want to remember. We should have taken our time and seen the overs through. We cannot repeat the same mistake again,” Pandey said after the loss on Wednesday.

Pandey, who was run out after going for a non-existent single, termed the decision to go for the run “a very stupid call” while also pinning the blame on a “couple of bad shots" that "cost us the game”.

“The way we lost hurts," he replied to a pointed question. "We had plans, we have so many senior batters, but a collapse like this really hurts us. If one of the batters had played the situation better, we could have been better placed. Our batters fell like a deck of cards when one senior batter should have taken it upon himself to take us to safety. All of us senior batters have to step up our game,” Pandey offered.

Ronit More, the most successful of Karnataka bowlers in the first innings, appeared to have been underutilised with the pacer bowling only 10 overs in the second. Pandey disclosed that the reason behind it was the bowler's preference to bowl from a particular end and the skipper didn't seem to be too happy with it.

"Ronit finished the first spell, and he wanted one end (media end)," Pandey pointed out. "I didn't want to force him to bowl from the other end because from that end there was a bit of spin. I wanted to keep one end for a spinner and the other for a pacer. So, obviously, there was a little gap in bowling him but I thought Vidwath (Kaverappa) and (V) Vyshak bowled really well.

"As a senior bowler, he should have taken the responsibility of bowling from the other end. But as a captain, I have to give the bowlers what they ask for. That's my duty and as a unit, we all have something to learn from this game and become better."

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Between Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham, Karnataka got only four wickets and three of them in the first innings. A bit more responsibility and contribution could have made a difference, felt coach Yere Goud.

"Both of them tried their best to be honest, but they couldn't get that breakthrough," said Goud. "But yes, some more responsibility and some more wickets from them could have helped the side. Probably within what the target was, two-three wickets from them would have been very helpful."