A week has done nothing to dampen Karnataka’s ardour. Playing with the same brio that helped deliver the Ranji Trophy, which lay regally in the KSCA secretary’s office here, the home team seized the upper hand on the opening day of the Zal Irani Cup. The captain R. Vinay Kumar led the way, taking six for 47, as Rest of India was dismissed for an unimposing 201.
At stumps at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, Karnataka was 35 for one in reply. K.L. Rahul remained at the wicket on 28, an innings as easy on the eye as twenty-eights can be, with Ganesh Satish for company.
“This wicket had a bit more grass than usual,” Vinay said later. “We’re lucky that we won the toss.”
First-ball wicket
He struck with the first ball of the match, trapping Jiwanjot Singh in front (replays indicated an inside edge, though).
The tone was set for the innings, with Baba Aparajith falling in Vinay’s next over to a ball that shaped back in gloriously. Before long, Kedar Jadhav was similarly out lbw, and when the returning Stuart Binny claimed Gautam Gambhir (22) and Mandeep Singh, it left Rest lurching on 62 for five.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik had survived a vociferous shout for caught-behind on one; Vinay was convinced he had his fourth wicket and TV replays suggested there was a noise but the umpire Rajesh Deshpande was unimpressed.
Karthik appeared at sea to begin with, tied down in the single digits for a long time.
“It was tough to bat at the start,” he admitted later. “The wicket was damp and I couldn’t play shots at all.”
He clung on, though, and revived the Rest innings alongside Amit Mishra.
The latter made 47 entertaining runs including seven fours and a straight six off Shreyas Gopal.
At the other end, Karthik had slipped into a groove of his own, driving confidently and even whipping Abhimanyu Mithun for three fours in an over.
Remarkable catch
It took a remarkable flying catch at mid-on by Robin Uthappa to get rid of Karthik, nine short of a hundred.
The ball had been swatted firmly but the fielder dived full-length to his left to secure it, leaving Karthik dumbfounded.
Vinay, who has now taken 18 wickets in his last four first-class innings, then wrapped things up with a burst much like that at the start of the day. “I’ve waited for 10 years to play this match (Irani Cup) for Karnataka,” he said later. “That itself is big motivation.”
The scores:
Rest of India — 1st innings: Jiwanjot Singh lbw b Vinay 0, Gautam Gambhir lbw b Binny 22, Baba Aparajith lbw b Vinay 2, Kedar Jadhav lbw b Vinay 2, Dinesh Karthik c Uthappa b Binny 91, Mandeep Singh c Rahul b Binny 5, Amit Mishra c Nair b Sharath 47, Harbhajan Singh c Ganesh b Vinay 25, Anureet Singh lbw b Vinay 0, Ashoke Dinda (not out) 1, Pankaj Singh b Vinay 0; Extras (b-2, lb-3, w-1): 6; Total (in 65.4 overs): 201.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Jiwanjot), 2-8 (Aparajith), 3-12 (Jadhav), 4-54 (Gambhir), 5-62 (Mandeep), 6-129 (Mishra), 7-199 (Harbhajan), 8-199 (Karthik), 9-201 (Anureet).
Karnataka bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 18.4-8-47-6, A. Mithun 13-0-53-0, H.S. Sharath 13-5-34-1, Stuart Binny 15-3-35-3, Shreyas Gopal 3-0-22-0, Manish Pandey 3-1-5-0.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Robin Uthappa c Jadhav b Dinda 0, K.L. Rahul (batting) 28, Ganesh Satish (batting) 7; Total (for one wicket in 14 overs): 35.
Fall of wicket: 1-0 (Uthappa).
Rest bowling: Ashoke Dinda 5-1-19-1, Pankaj Singh 6-3-10-0, Anureet Singh 2-0-5-0, Amit Mishra 1-0-1-0.
