Ranji Trophy: Nabi puts J&K on the cusp of history

Hubballi: Blending sensible strokeplay with staying power, Mayank Agarwal singlehandedly held Karnataka together against Jammu and Kashmir with an unbeaten hundred on the third day of the Ranji Trophy final at the KSCA Rajnagar Stadium here on Thursday. 

Mayank’s unbeaten 130, amongst the finest Karnataka hundreds this season, enabled the struggling hosts to reach 220/5 in 69 overs, thereby bringing down the first innings deficit to 364.

At the other end was Kruthik Krishna (27 n.o., 75b) when the stumps were drawn on an extended day. 

There was plenty of seam movement on offer for the J&K bowlers and it felt like they were bowling on a different wicket to when Karnataka operated, who slogged for 173.1 overs. 

Auqib Nabi (3/32) zipped the ball around at decent pace and troubled all the Karnataka batters except a zoned-in Agarwal.

Nabi, who was relentless in his first four overs (4-2-4-0), picked up his 56th wicket of the season when he squared up KL Rahul (13, 39b) with a delivery that moved late, taking the edge and went into the wicketkeeper’s gloves six minutes before lunch. 

It took Agarwal 23 balls to settle in, and when Sunil Kumar (1/45) offered a delivery on the full, he leant in and crunched it through the covers for four. 

He then showed trust in his defence and safely negated a few good balls before nailing two more drives to the fence as Karnataka went into lunch at 35/1.

Mayank then delicately opened the face of the bat as the ball raced away towards backward point fence as he reached 5,000 Ranji Trophy runs.

While Mayank was oozing class at the other hand, Sunil got Devdutt Padikkal (11) to poke at a ball seaming away to put Karnataka on the backfoot at 56/2.

Karun Nair (0) looked uncomfortable against Nabi's consistency and was also a victim when he pitched it on a length and angled it into Nair, who looked to play straight through the line but was foxed by the movement upon pitching and was castled. 

The very next delivery was again on a length, but this straightened after pitching, as Smaran R (0) edged it to the keeper.

Shreyas Gopal (27, 83b), who faced the hat-trick ball from Nabi, survived a delivery that moved in after pitching.

On the other end, Mayank continued to collect runs with a few statement shots, and reached his fifty in 82 balls, driving past extra cover for a couple. 

He also stitched a fighting 105-run partnership with Shreyas, who showed faith in his defence and survived 63 balls before he was trapped in front by Yudhvir Singh (1/32).

Agarwal then opened a package of flicks and drives and brought up his 21st first-class hundred in 153 balls.

Earlier, Prasidh Krishna (5/98) claimed his fourth of the innings when Abid Mushtaq (28) top edged straight into mid-on's hands. In the next over,  he completed his fourth first-class five-for when Nabi (2) edged one to Kruthik while uncomfortably ducking a fuller ball.

After bowling his heart out for two days, Vyshak Vijaykumar (1/75) finally picked up a wicket when Sahil Lotra (72) pulled one to fine leg. 

Yudhvir 30 (28b) found his timing and hit a few delightful shots before Padikkal's direct hit had him walking back as J&K ended their marathon innings on 584 all out. 

Cut-off box - SCORE BOARD
JAMMU & KASHMIR (I Innings O/n: 527/6): Qamran Iqbal c Rahul b Prasidh 6 (36b 1x4) Yawer Hassan c Rahul b Prasidh 88 (150b 13x4) Shubham Pundir c Aneesh b Vidyadhar 121 (247b 12x4 2x6) Paras Dogra b Shreyas 70 (166b 8x4) Abdul Samad c Kruthik b Prasidh 61 (104b 6x4 1x6) Kanhaiya Wadhawan c Rahul b Shikhar 70 (109b 9x4 1x6) Sahil Lotra c Vidyadhar b Vyshak 72 (138b 7x4) Abid Mushtaq c Padikkal b Prasidh 28 (50b 3x4) Auqib Nabi c Kruthik b Prasidh 2 (9b) Yudhvir Singh (run out) Padikkal 30 (28b 3x4 2x6) Sunil Kumar (not out) 1 (2b). Extras (W-5 B-14 LB-16) 35. TOTAL (all out 173.1 overs) 584. 
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Iqbal) 2-157 (Yamer) 3-303 (Shubham) 4-307 (Samad) 5-417 (Kanhaiya) 6-471 (Dogra) 7-539 (Abid) 8-543 (Nabi)  9-573 (Lotra).
Bowling: Vidyadhar Patil 32-2-116-1 Vyshak Vijaykumar 34-10-75-1 Prasidh Krishna 34.1-7-98-5 Shreyas Gopal 34-2-139-1 Shikhar Shetty 37-3-125-1 Karun Nair 2-1-1-0
KARNATAKA (I Innings): KL Rahul c Wadhawan b Nabi 13 (39b 2x4) Mayank Agarwal (batting) 130 (207b 17x4) Devdutt Padikkal c Samad b Sunil 11 (10b 2x4) Karun Nair b Nabi 0 (9b) Smaran R c Wadhawan b Nabi 0 (1b) Shreyas Gopal lbw Yudhvir 27 (83b 1x4) Kruthik Krishna (batting) 27 (75b 2x4). Extras (NB-10 LB-2) 12. TOTAL (for five wkts 69 overs) 220.
Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Rahul) 2-56 (Padikkal) 3-57 (Karun) 4-57 (Smaran) 5-162 (Shreyas)
Bowling: Auqib Nabi 14-3-32-3 Sunil Kumar 14-3-45-1 Yudhvir Singh 10-3-32-1 Abid Mushtaq 20-2-62-0 Sahil Lotra 9-0-42-0 Abdul Samad 2-0-5-0.