R. Prasanna’s decision to field first was vindicated as Tamil Nadu managed to restrict host Karnataka to 290 in their Ranji Trophy group-A match that commenced at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.
On a pace-friendly pitch, the visiting seamers had a relatively fruitful outing despite stellar knocks from Kunal Kapoor (87) and C.M. Gautam (94).
Tamil Nadu was 22 for no loss at stumps.
The major part of the Karnataka innings played out on two inter-woven themes: the regular fall of wickets, barring two partnerships, and the frequent boundaries that propelled the score along.
The trend started when Robin Uthappa edged L. Balaji, after having cover-driven him, and J. Kaushik had Mayank Agarwal caught behind.
Unfettered by the scorecard which read 25 for two, Manish Pandey clattered a few fours but fell while testing fine-leg M. Mohammed’s arm.
With Karun Nair and Stuart Binny obliging the close-in cordon, Karnataka slumped to 97 for five by the 26th over.
Meanwhile, Kapoor (142b, 18x4) played the waiting game and shed his garb of dourness only when punching and cover-driving Vijay Shankar for a couple of fours. Gautam (135b, 15x4, 2x6), though, was at his fluid-best right from the start in a 95-run stand for the sixth wicket.
With the knee surgery that had benched him since May evidently behind him, Gautam lofted Malolan Rangarajan for six. Later he repeatedly swept the offie.
After Mohammed castled Kapoor, Karnataka found relief in another substantial alliance as Shreyas Gopal and Gautam had a 56-run seventh-wicket partnership, the latter hoisting Mohammed for six.
However, the tail did not last long, with skipper R. Vinay Kumar guilty of an ugly swipe against Mohammed.
After that, Gautam found the fielder at cover off Balaji to fall short of a ton.
The scores :
Karnataka — 1st innings: Robin Uthappa c Karthik b Balaji 14, Mayank Agarwal c Karthik b J. Kaushik 9, Kunal Kapoor b Mohammed 87, Manish Pandey run out 24, Karun Nair c Karthik b J. Kaushik 9, Stuart Binny c Abhinav b J. Kaushik 7, C.M. Gautam c Malolan b Balaji 94, Shreyas Gopal c Indrajit b Mohammed 24, R. Vinay Kumar b Mohammed 0, S. Arvind (not out) 4, H.S. Sharath b J. Kaushik 3, Extras (nb-12, lb-3) 15; Total (in 74.2 overs) 290.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-25, 3-53, 4-75, 5-97, 6-192, 7-248, 8-254, 9-287.
Tamil Nadu bowling: J. Kaushik 18.2-6-53-4, L. Balaji 16-3-50-2, M. Mohammed 19-6-80-3, Vijay Shankar 6-0-40-0, Malolan Rangarajan 11-2-52-0, Kaushik Gandhi 4-2-12-0.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Kaushik Gandhi (batting) 12, Abhinav Mukund (batting) 10, Total (for no loss in 10 overs) 22.
Karnataka bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 5-0-17-0, S. Arvind 4-1-5-0, H.S. Sharath 1-1-0-0.
Ranji scores
Group A:
At Vadodara: Bengal 255 for three (S. Chatterjee 91 batting, S. Goswami 61 batting, Arindam Das 54) vs Baroda. Toss: Bengal.
At Mumbai: Mumbai 236 (S. Yadav 57, D. Kulkarni 42 batting, R. Daya three for 51, W. Raza three for 29) vs Jammu & Kashmir 88 for one (S. Khajuria 47 batting). Toss: Mumbai.
At Delhi: Madhya Pradesh 181 (J. Saxena 41, Rameez Khan 41, Anureet Singh five for 43, K. Upadhyay three for 72) vs Railways 21 for no loss. Toss: Railways.
Group B:
At Delhi: Delhi 260 for six (G. Gambhir 123 batting, R. Bhatia 47) vs Saurashtra. Toss: Saurashtra.
At Pune: Odisha 223 for five (N. Behera 66, B. Samantray 64 batting) vs Maharashtra. Toss: Odisha.
At Patiala: Punjab 273 (Yuvraj Singh 59, Amitoze Singh 45, J. Yadav six for 85, A. Mishra three for 72) vs Haryana 19 for one. Toss: Punjab.
At Jaipur: Gujarat 258 for four (P. Panchal 68, B. Merai 63 batting) vs Rajasthan. Toss: Rajasthan.
Group C:
At Delhi: Services 226 (D. Punia 64, S. Chatterjee 42, V. Malik three for 33, Rishi Dhawan three for 57) vs Himachal Pradesh 19 for no loss. Toss: Himachal Pradesh.
At Visakhapatnam: Hyderabad 281 for six (D. Ravi Teja 96, Akshath Reddy 55) vs Andhra. Toss: Andhra.
At Guwahati: Tripura 135 (M. Murasingh 47, S. Roy three for six, K. Das three for 41) vs Assam 68 for four. Toss: Assam.
At Wayanad: Goa 313 for six (A. Desai 75, D. Misal 67 n.o., S. Bandekar 60, B. Thampi three for 97) vs Kerala. Toss: Kerala.
