Ranji Trophy: Late strikes boost Karnataka on the opening day

When Venkatesh Iyer and Rajat Patidar held fort in the evening session, Madhya Pradesh looked in great shape against Karnataka on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at Alur (1) ground here on Thursday.

Against the run of play, Venkatesh (87, 135b, 12×4) and Patidar (30, 48b, 4×4) were sent back, allowing the home team to end the day on a high.

From a comfortable 233 for three, Madhya Pradesh slipped to 244 for five.

The visitor would be most disappointed with the manner of Venkatesh’s dismissal. With only seven overs to go for close of play, the 31-year-old fell for the obvious bouncer trap laid by pacer V. Vyshak, skying a hook to deep fine-leg. The southpaw was well on the way to a third First Class century, until the lapse of concentration.

Thirteen deliveries later, Karnataka was over the moon when skipper Patidar drove leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal to K.V. Aneesh at cover.

Coming in at five, Patidar was the most fluent batter on view. Patidar found stroke-making easy in the evening session, and threatened to take the game away from Karnataka.

The home team suffered a couple of setbacks when skipper Mayank Agarwal and wicketkeeper K.L. Shrijith left the field and did not return. Mayank was reportedly unwell.

Shrijith injured his finger when diving full length to make a leg-side stop. Kruthik Krishna replaced Shrijith behind the stumps. Krishna, yet to earn a senior cap for Karnataka, got into the thick of things when he took a good reflex catch to dismiss Shubham Sharma.

Shubham (33, 151b, 2×4) showed an unrelenting desire to grind, until he lunged forward to Shreyas and nicked it.

Opener Himanshu Mantri (39) was similarly keen to stick around. After spending nearly three hours at the crease, the left-hander was rapped on the pads by Vyshak. Himanshu’s partner Yash Dubey (29) threw away his wicket, stepping out to left-arm spinner Shikhar Shetty and lobbing it to mid-on.

Karnataka was glad to welcome back Vyshak, who was deemed to fit to play after suffering a concussion in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal. Pacers Abhilash Shetty and M. Venkatesh, however, were ruled out with injuries.

The scores: Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: Yash Dubey c Vidhyadhar b Shikhar 29, Himanshu Mantri lbw b Vyshak 39, Shubham Sharma c (sub) Kruthik b Shreyas 33, Venkatesh Iyer c Kaverappa b Vyshak 87, Rajat Patidar c Aneesh b Shreyas 30, Saransh Jain (batting) 6, Aryan Pandey (batting) 5; Extras (b-4, lb-5, w-6): 15; Total (for five wkts. in 90 overs): 244.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-89, 3-164, 4-233, 5-233.

Karnataka bowling: Kaverappa 12-4-27-0, Vidyadhar 13-2-33-0, Vyshak 16-4-51-2, Shikhar 27-4-70-1, Shreyas 21-6-53-2, Karun 1-0-1-0.