The day belonged to Karnataka. First, the bowlers mopped up Maharashtra’s lower order picking up the last five wickets for just 33 runs. Then, opener Lokesh Rahul and one drop Ganesh Satish, who scored his first century of the season, thrived on the generosity of the fielders to help Karnataka post a commanding 230 for no loss at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium here on Thursday.
Resuming at 272 for five, the Maharashtra batsmen put up a dismal display. Sangram Atitkar (50, 97b, 8x4) was the exception as the other batsmen showed no inclination to stay at the crease and treat the bowling on merit.
Once Abhimanyu Mithun brought one back sharply to beat the well-set Ankit Bawne and knock back his middle stump (at his overnight score of 89), the rest merely followed him to the pavilion.
Manish Pandey’s spectacular catch, leaping to his right at first slip to hold on to a snick off Shrikant Munde was a truly special effort. It was also symbolic of the intensity shown by Karnataka’s pace trio of Mithun, Aravind and Vinay Kumar. Munde was all at sea against the diagonal line from left-armer Sreenath Aravind.
When Karnataka began its chase, Robin Uthappa offered no stroke to one from left-arm medium-pacer Samad Fallah that came back in sharply, was hit on the elbow and retired hurt.
Butterfingers
Soon, it was a story of missed chances for Maharashtra. Satish was dropped on six by wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani, who failed to hold on to a leading edge off Fallah and then on 89 by Atitkar at midwicket when he tried to flick Anupam Sanklecha.
Rahul too had his share of luck, Sanklecha the culprit twice as he failed to hold on to return catches when the batsman was on 12 and 74.
On a pitch, which was clearly on the slower side, the bowlers had to be backed by the fielders. But, that was not to be and Karnataka finished the day on top thanks to the wonderful efforts from Rahul (94 batting, 189b, 9x4, 1x6) and Satish (117 batting, 207b, 16x4) who made optimum use of the batsman-friendly conditions with admirable stroke selection during their unbeaten 216-run partnership.
The scores:
Maharashtra — 1st innings: Harshad Khadiwale lbw b Vinay 15, Chirag Khurana lbw b Karun 64, Vijay Zol c Gautam b Aravind 5, Kedar Jadhav c Gautam b Mithun 37, Ankit Bawne b Mithun 89, Rohit Motwani c Gautam b Mithun 17, Sangram Atitkar c Gautam b Aravind 50, Shrikant Mundhe c Pandey b Aravind 7, Akshay Darekar c Aravind b Vinay 2, Anupam Sanklecha lbw b Vinay 1, Samad Fallah (not out) 2; Extras (b-5, lb-6, nb-5): 16; Total (in 104.1 overs): 305.
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-42, 3-90, 4-144, 5-215, 6-272, 7-294, 8-301, 9-302.
Karnataka bowling: Vinay Kumar 30.1-6-81-3, Abhimanyu Mithun 23-8-49-3, Sreenath Aravind 26-6-65-3, Manish Pandey 1-0-2-0, Shreyas Gopal 13-0-54-0, Karun Nair 5-1-21-1, Amit Verma 4-0-14-0, Ganesh Satish 2-0-8-0.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Robin Uthappa (retd. hurt) 10, Lokesh Rahul (batting) 94, Ganesh Satish (batting) 117; Extras (b-5, w-2, nb-2): 9; Total (for no loss in 68 overs): 230.
Maharashtra bowling: Samad Fallah 16-2-40-0, Anupam Sanklecha 15-3-40-0, Akshay Darekar 9.5-0-49-0, Shrikant Mundhe 12-2-43-0, Chirag Khurana 10.1-0-35-0, Sangram Atitkar 5-0-18-0.
This article has been corrected for a factual error.
>>The report referred to the bowling by Karnataka’s pace trio Mukund, Aravind and Vinay Kumar. It should have been Mithun, Aravind and Vinay Kumar.