Ranji Trophy: Sloppy fielding hurts Karnataka

Three dropped catches, a missed run-out and a heartbreaking no-ball meant Aditya Shrivastava and Venkatesh Iyer were allowed to browbeat for two sessions and then some on the third day of their Elite Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy contest at the Navule stadium in Shivamogga on Thursday.

The alliance, which came together after the overnight pair of Yash Dubey (45) and Shubham Sharma (25) were sent back by the spinners, showed exceptional application to add an unconquered 188 runs for the fifth-wicket, blunting Karnataka’s advances and guiding Madhya Pradesh to 311/4 at stumps.

The visitors now trail by 115 runs with Shrivastava on 109 and Iyer on 80, an effort which betrayed statements of ‘inexperience’ from opposition ranks.

If anything, the only signs of inexperience came in the way Karun Nair, the Karnataka skipper, went about his bowling combinations. He let the pacemen stay on for far longer than he should have, bowled himself more than he should have and didn’t trust Shreyas Gopal enough on a pitch which is clearly assisting those of the tweaking variety.

Granted, Shreyas went for runs, but he and K Gowtham were also responsible for dismissing Dubey and Shubham. Also, it was Gowtham who inspired those two edges which were put down.

Shrivastava, the right-hander, was the batsman both times. Sharath Srinivas, the wicketkeper, put down a regulation nick off an arm-ball (Shrivastava was on 8) and Nair missed a reflex take at first slip (Shrivastava was on 66).

Reprieves

Iyer, the left-hander, got a couple of reprieves too. After Shreyas goofed-up up a gather to run the lanky batsman out on 7, Mithun incited an inside edge onto the stumps with the batsman on 62 an over after tea.

Nair, who admitted to opposition’s middle-order partnerships being a concern prior to this game, kept his players on their toes as they stretched and limbered up in unison. It was a fine sight, and Mithun’s dismissal was a fitting reward. Only that the experienced paceman had overstepped. Mithun was guilty of the same in the game against Railways.

Displeasure was writ on Karnataka’s faces. Iyer, definitively the more graceful of the two at the crease, resumed with all the strokes in the book: the pulls came easy, the back foot punches were all too elegant, the length balls were driven on the rise. Effortless.

Shrivastava, returning to the side this season after being left out in 2017, was the wall MP needed. The then opener and now No. 5 wasn’t fluent but showed a high level of technical adeptness. He did strike the boundaries when the poor balls came his way but was largely restrained.

That was until he jumped, screamed and pointed a finger at his dressing room after cutting Gowtham to the deep point fence for a boundary to bring up his fifth century in first-class cricket.

Tired as they were, Karnataka’s players lauded Shrivastava’s effort. Moments later, they were back to resting their hands on their heads as Gowtham put Iyer down, an absolute sitter, at first slip off Ronit More. The day was such.

SCORE BOARD

KARNATAKA (I Innings): 426 all out in 132 overs.

MADHYA PRADESH (I Innings, O/n: 60/2 in 34 overs): Rameez Khan lbw Mithun 22 (145m, 91b, 4x4), Rajat Patidar b Jain 0 (7m, 2b), Yash Dubey lbw Shreyas 45 (251m, 159b, 6x4), Shubham Sharma c Nair b Gowtham 25 (127m, 74b, 1x4), Aditya Shrivastava (batting) 109 (290m, 223b, 15x4), Venkatesh Iyer (batting) 80 (276m, 200b, 10x4, 1x6). Extras (B-9, LB-15, W-2, NB-4) 30. Total (for 4 wickets, 124 overs) 311.

Fall of wicket: 1-1 (Patidar), 2-50 (Khan), 3-113 (Dubey), 4-123 (Shubham).

Bowling: A Mithun 24-7-42-1 (w-2, nb-2), Prateek Jain 24-8-42-1 (nb-1), Ronit More 24-7-62-0 (nb-1), Karun Nair 7-1-13-0, K Gowtham 30-13-61-1, Shreyas Gopal 15-0-67-1.