Arch-rivals with a storied history, a gripping final day of play with all three results possible at some time and both teams quickly shifting between offence and defence. The final day’s play between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had it all. But like in the finals of the two white-ball tournaments earlier in the year, Karnataka had the last laugh as it secured a thrilling 27-run victory thanks to K. Gowtham’s sensational spell of 8/60 in their Group B Ranji Trophy match at the NPR College grounds here on Thursday.
Gowtham, who was the wrecker-in-chief in the first innings with six wickets, bowled his heart out sending in 30.3 overs of the 63.3 overs and fittingly, he took the last wicket off the third ball of the final over of the match trapping K. Vignesh leg-before.
Incidentally, the 31-year-old bowled the final over in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final in Surat helping his side win that humdinger of a match by just one run defending five runs off four balls.
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Cameo
Earlier in the day, the all-rounder had played a cameo making 22 off just 33 balls in Karantaka’s second innings even as TN fought back strongly with R. Ashwin picking up four wickets to bowl out the visitors for 151.
Chasing 181, TN openers M. Vijay and Abhinav Mukund came out with positive intent in the few overs before lunch, taking the side to 46/0 in seven overs at the end of the opening session.
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However, things unravelled quickly in the second session with an inspired piece of fielding from R. Samarth finding Vijay short of his ground before Gowtham struck two balls later to remove B. Aparajith leg-before.
Attacking the stumps
After removing R. Ashwin, Gowtham priced out opener Abhinav, who looked comfortable in the middle, caught at slip going for a drive to reduce TN to 72/4.
The off-spinner was at his best attacking the stumps on a wicket that had enough assistance with men around the bat to pile on the pressure. Just 38 runs came in the second session for the loss of four wickets from 24 overs. Gowtham was ably supported by pacer V. Koushik whose defensive line of bowling helped squeeze the runs in the second session.
Just after tea, skipper Vijay Shankar went for a sweep and top-edged to the short fine-leg fielder before Dinesh Karthik was bowled by Gowtham. Despite some rearguard action from M. Ashwin and M. Siddharth, Gowtham’s persistence prevailed as Karnataka pocked six crucial points.
The scores: Karnataka — 1st innings: 336.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 307.
Karnataka — 2nd innings (overnight 89/5): Mayank Agarwal run out 8, D. Nischal c Jagadeesan b Vignesh 0, Devdutt Padikkal c sub b Siddharth 39, Karun Nair b Vignesh 5, Pavan Deshpande c Aparajith b R. Ashwin 20, Shreyas Gopal c Aparajith b R. Ashwin 0, B.R. Sharath c Siddharth b Vignesh 28, David Mathias lbw b R. Ashwin 22, K. Gowtham c Siddharth b R. Ashwin 22, Ronit More c Siddharth b Sai Kishore 0, V. Koushik (not out) 0; Extras (lb-6, b-1): 7; Total (in 65.4 overs): 151.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-11, 3-23, 4-59, 5-59, 6-93, 7-119, 8-151, 9-151.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Vijay Shankar 1-0-8-0, Vignesh 16-2-31-3, R. Ashwin 27-9-46-4, Sai Kishore 6.4-1-13-1, Siddharth 10-0-38-1, Aparajith 5-2-8-0.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Abhinav Mukund c Nair b Gowtham 42, M. Vijay run out 15, B. Aparajith lbw b Gowtham 0, R. Ashwin lbw b Gowtham 2, Dinesh Karthik b Gowtham 17, Vijay Shankar c More b Gowtham 5, N. Jagadeesan lbw b Koushik 7, M. Ashwin (not out) 23, R. Sai Kishore lbw b Gowtham 6, M. Siddharth b Gowtham 20, K. Vignesh lbw b Gowtham 4; Extras (b-8, lb-3, w-1, nb-1): 13; Total (in 63.3 overs): 154.
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-49, 3-53, 4-72, 5-84, 6-94, 7-98, 8-114, 9-150.
Karnataka bowling: More 15-4-51-0, Koushik 12-2-23-1, Gowtham 30.3-11-60-8, Gopal 6-2-9-0.