Ranji Trophy: Karun Nair grinds out 174 as Karnataka seizes control over Goa

Shivamogga: How do you prove to the state selectors that your return to Karnataka was a solid decision? By scoring runs and batting time, of course. 

Karun Nair, on Sunday, was in the mood for some batting, scoring an unbeaten 174 while staying in the middle for 435 minutes to anchored Karnataka to 371 in 110.1 overs on the second day of their Ranji Trophy game against Goa here. 

However, at 4:40 pm, when the officials called time, the scene had moved slightly past Nair, with the weather gods taking as the day's honours after play was cut short due to rain. 

Goa had reached 28 for one in their reply, with Suyash Prabudessai (11 not out) and Abhinav Tejrana (8 not out), still trailing Karnataka by 343 runs. 

Abhilash Shetty picked up the lone wicket of Manthan Khutkar in the fourth over. Vidwath Kaverappa would feel a little unlucky for not having a wicket to his name, with balls fizzling past the outside edge, without brushing it. 

The groundstaff worked hard but the rain left a few puddles and about two hours later, the ground was deemed unfit for play for Day 2, having completed just 54.1 overs. 

The day started on a bright note for the hosts amid gloomy skies, as Shreyas Gopal (57) aided Nair. But he was a victim of a Vijesh Prabhudesai setup, which saw two balls move slightly in and took the edge off a ball that straightened. 

Goa took the second new ball as soon as it was available and it paid back as Yashovardhan Parantap looked to lift one to the boundary but only managed to balloon it to mid-off. 

Karun and Vyshak (31) then forged a 60-run stand. While Vyshak looked good, he was pinned by Darshan Misal. The fall of the ninth wicket sparked Nair to step on the accelerator, and that he did, smashing Arjun Tendulkar for 17 runs in the 105th over. 

The last wicket stand lasted balls as Vidwath Kaverappa was run out, wrapping up Karnataka’s innings at 371.

Scoreboard

KARNATAKA (I Innings, O/n: 222/5): Mayank Agarwal c Snehal b Koushik 28 (69b, 4x4), Nikin Jose c Manthan b Arjun 3 (48b), Shrijith KL c Samar b Arjun 0 (5b), Karun Nair (not out) 174 (267b, 14x4, 3x6), Smaran R c Abhinav b Koushik 3 (9b), Abhinav Manohar c Koushik b Arjun 37 (64b, 6x4), Shreyas Gopal c Snehal b Vjesh 57 (109b, 6x4, 1x6), Yashovardhan Parantap c Vijesh b Koushik 14 (24b, 2x4), Vyshak Vijaykumar lbw Darshan 31 (53b, 4x4), Abhilash Shetty c Abhinav b Darshan 2 (10b), Vidwath Kaverappa (run out) Abhinav 0 (9b). EXTRAS (B-5, LB-9, NB-6, W-2) 22. TOTAL (all out, 110.1 overs) 371. 

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Nikin), 2-26 (Shrijith), 3-47 (Agarwal), 4-65 (Smaran), 5-128 (Abhinav), 6-245 (Shreyas), 2-271 (Yashovardhan), 8-331 (Vyshak), 9-342 (Abhilash).

Bowling: Arjun Tendulkar 29-6-100-3, V Koushik 27.1-11-35-2, Vijesh Prabudesai 20-3-86-1, Darshan Misal 18-0-74-2, Mohit Redkar 9-0-35-0, Suyash Prabhudessai 4-0-8-0, Lalit Yadav 3-0-19-0.

Goa (I Innings): Manthan Khutkar c Shrijith b Abhilash 9 (17b, 1x4), Suyash Prabhudessai (batting) 11 (36b, 1x4), Abhinav Tejrana (batting) 8 (25b, 1x4). EXTRAS 0. TOTAL (for 1 wkt, 13 overs) 28. 

Fall of wicket: 1-9 (Manthan).

Bowling: Vidwath Kaverappa 6-1-11-0, Abhilash Shetty 5-2-9-1, Yashovardhan Parantap 1-0-3-0, Vyshak Vijaykumar 1-0-4-0. 

Group B brief scores: At Rajkot: Saurashtra (O/n: 258/8): 260 all out in 88.4 overs (Harvik Desai 26, Chirag Jani 82, Ansh Gosai 38, Ravindra Jadeja 36, Parth Bhut 27 n.o; Aryan Pandey 4-31, Kumar Karthikeya 4-84) vs Madhya Pradesh: 195/4 in 78 overs. 

At Chandigarh: Maharashtra: 313 all out & 66/0 in 11 overs (Prithvi Shaw 41 n.o., Arshin Kulkarni 25 n.o.) vs Chandigarh: 209 all out in 73 overs (Shivam Bhambri 33, Arjun Azad 29, Raman Bishnoi 54, Nishunk Birla 56 n.o.; Ramakrishan Ghosh 2-51, Vicky Ostwal 6-40). 

At New Chandigarh: Punjab (O/n 240/6): 436 all out in 163.4 overs (Harnoor Singh 170, Uday Saharan 37, Sahil Arora 36, Krish Bhagat 28, Prerit Dutta 72, Mayank Markande 48 n.o.; Nedumankuzhy Basil 2-69, Ankit Sharma 4-103, Baba Aparajith 2-88) vs Kerala: 15/1 in 7 overs.