Ranji Trophy: Shashikanth slams misfiring 'big guns'

Nagpur: Karnataka coach PV Shashikanth on Sunday blasted his seasoned batters for misfiring that has now left their Ranji Trophy semifinal hopes in dire straits.

Chasing Vidarbha’s 460 all out, skipper Mayank Agarwal, R Samarth and Manish Pandey — the bulwark of the state’s batting — didn’t get going with two of them playing atrocious shots that saw them crash to 286 all out here at the old VCA Stadium on Sunday.

While Agarwal departed for a two-ball duck while chasing a ball wide outside the off-stump on Saturday evening, Pandey offered no defence while perishing for 15 on Sunday. Samarth, who has been in poor form all season, made 59 before being adjudged LBW controversially.      

Shashikanth, speaking to media after the day’s play, minced no words in blaming the trio for Karnataka’s batting failure. “We could have applied better than what we did. Wicket is still good. The big guns didn’t fire. We lost Mayank early yesterday. Mayank, Samarth, Manish are some of the guys, in these kinds of games, can step up. But unfortunately it didn’t happen.”

When asked if Samarth’s dismissal, out LBW despite the batter being way down the track, had an impact on the overall performance, Shashikanth felt the batters are solely to be blamed. “I can’t comment on umpiring but our side, we should have applied ourselves a lot more. We were looking at big partnerships and that didn’t happen. A lot of fifties were there, (SJ) Nikin (Jose) was just waging a lone battle. Perhaps the other batters (should have applied themselves). I can’t blame the lower middle-order, it’s the job of the top 5-6 guys to fire. That didn’t happen.”

Karnataka coach PV Shashikanth on Sunday blasted his seasoned batters for misfiring that has now left their Ranji Trophy semifinal hopes in dire straits.

Chasing Vidarbha’s 460 all out skipper Mayank Agarwal R Samarth and Manish Pandey — the bulwark of the state’s batting — didn’t get going with two of them playing atrocious shots that saw them crash to 286 all out here at the old VCA Stadium on Sunday.

While Agarwal departed for a two-ball duck while chasing a ball wide outside the off-stump on Saturday evening Pandey offered no defence while perishing for 15 on Sunday. Samarth who has been in poor form all season made 59 before being adjudged LBW controversially.

Shashikanth speaking to media after the day’s play minced no words in blaming the trio for Karnataka’s batting failure. “We could have applied better than what we did. Wicket is still good. The big guns didn’t fire. We lost Mayank early yesterday. Mayank Samarth Manish are some of the guys in these kinds of games can step up. But unfortunately it didn’t happen,” he said.

When asked if Samarth’s dismissal out LBW despite the batter being way down the track had an impact on the overall performance Shashikanth felt the batters are solely to be blamed. “I can’t comment on umpiring but our side we should have applied ourselves a lot more. We were looking at big partnerships and that didn’t happen. A lot of fifties were there (SJ) Nikin (Jose) was just waging a lone battle. Perhaps the other batters (should have applied themselves). I can’t blame the lower middle-order it’s the job of the top 5-6 guys to fire. That didn’t happen.”