Under an unforgiving Hubli sun, Karnataka’s bowlers retained the brio that has served them well in recent games, dismissing Punjab for a scant total to put their side, at least temporarily, in the ascendant.
In a passage of play that commenced some 20 minutes from lunch and stretched to tea on the opening day of this Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy cricket contest, the visitor lost nine for 68. Stuart Binny took three wickets and K.P. Appanna as many to snuff out the tail as Punjab crumbled to 174 all out.
Karnataka’s reply, though, was not entirely dominant. On a pitch offering encouraging — if not consistent — lift, the strapping Manpreet Grewal caused the home team some distress, sending back two batsmen before the close. At stumps at the KSCA Stadium on Saturday, Karnataka was 59 for two, K.L. Rahul and Manish Pandey at the wicket.
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At tea, Karnataka’s decision to field first seemed vindicated. After Jiwanjot Singh’s run-out in the sixth over, Manan Vohra and Uday Kaul settled down to a partnership of 93 runs. Vohra looked thoroughly comfortable here, driving the faster bowlers off the back-foot and timing it nicely in general. Two hours in, Karnataka looked in store for a hard day’s toil in the heat
It was Binny that snapped the alliance, Vohra slashing injudiciously to be held at first slip for 69. Kaul fell two balls later to Vinay Kumar as Punjab went into lunch three down.
On the other side, Abhimanyu Mithun embarked on a spell of hostile, quick bowling that soon bore fruit. Four overs into the second session, a short ball from Mithun reared up to strike Taruwar Kohli’s glove; Agarwal held a simple catch at gully. Sharath then prised out Gurkeerat Singh and Binny Gitansh Khera.
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Appanna, who featured only because Abrar Kazi injured himself in the warm-up, claimed hundred first-class wickets when he dismissed the last three.
The scores: Punjab — 1st innings: Manan Vohra c Rahul b Binny 69, Jiwanjot Singh (run out) 5, Uday Kaul c Agarwal b Vinay 29, Mandeep Singh (not out) 32, Taruwar Kohli c Agarwal b Mithun 6, Gurkeerat Singh c Nair b Sharath 5, Gitansh Khera c Rahul b Binny 3, Sandeep Sharma b Binny 6, Manpreet Gony c Rahul b Appanna 5, V.R.V. Singh st Gautam b Appanna 7, Vinay Chaudhary c Nair b Appanna 0; Extras (lb-3, nb-2, w-2): 7; Total (in 54.5 overs): 174.
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Jiwanjot), 2-106 (Vohra), 3-106 (Kaul), 4-119 (Taruwar), 5-141 (Gurkeerat), 6-151 (Khera), 7-157 (Sharma), 8-166 (Gony), 9-174 (V.R.V. Singh).
Karnataka bowling: Vinay Kumar 11-4-20-1, Abhimanyu Mithun 10-1-30-1, Stuart Binny 14-3-62-3, H.S. Sharath 11-3-30-1, K.P. Appanna 8.5-1-29-3.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Mayank Agarwal c Khera b Gony 17, K.L. Rahul (batting) 22, Ganesh Satish lbw b Gony 5, Manish Pandey (batting) 13; Extras (nb-2): 2; Total (for two wkts. in 27 overs): 59.
Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Agarwal), 2-40 (Satish).
Punjab bowling: Sandeep Sharma 10-2-21-0, V.R.V. Singh 6-1-12-0, Taruwar Kohli 4-2-6-0, Manpreet Gony 7-2-20-2.