Opener K.L. Rahul resembled a braveheart and Karun Nair a remarkably selfless cricketer as Karnataka took command of the Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
Glimpses of it being a true champion side was more than evident during the course of a tough second day’s play watched by hundred-odd spectators from the upper tier of the Sunil Gavaskar (East) stand. Initially, the defending champion adopted the hardline approach of treating the ball on its merit, punishing the loose ones to eventually post a formidable total of 323 for five on a sunny day that made batting a pleasant exercise.
Despite being troubled by a nagging hamstring, and hobbling often, Rahul displayed technical proficiency and calm assurance for six hours, while Karun stood firm for nearly seven and a quarter hours. The indefatigable right-hander scored his second century (131 batting, 214b, 13x4, 1x6) in a Ranji Trophy final, and Karun (130 batting, 295b, 19x4) his first.
After the overnight pair of Abhimanyu Mithun and Karun stretched the fifth-wicket partnership to 53 runs, Rahul resumed his innings and showed why, in a short first-class career, he has become the most valuable player for Karnataka.
Karun, usually associated with cavalier strokeplay, turned out to be an able foil in the sixth-wicket stand that may have probably sealed Tamil Nadu’s fate in a match that throbbed with life almost right through the 77 overs on the opening day.
Bright future At a cricket-related function a few years ago, Karnataka’s batting maestro Gundappa Viswanath had predicted a bright future for Rahul, who was amassing runs in junior cricket. Middle-order batsman Manish Pandey — the first Indian century-maker in the IPL — was stealing all the thunder, but with an eye to spot talent, Viswanath identified the technical excellence of Rahul and named him as the player to watch.
A fine century in his second Test against Australia at Sydney proved that he was ready to cut his teeth in international cricket. A triple century (337) against Uttar Pradesh upon his return from Australia just about reflected his commitment to his State.
He has hardly put a foot wrong in the five matches he has turned up for Karnataka, although things did not go in his favour in the semifinal against Mumbai. He made 89 against Baroda, 337 & 43 against Uttar Pradesh, and 91 & 73 against Assam in the quarterfinals.
While shadow-practising with his right hand, he appeared disappointed leaving the field in the post-tea session on Sunday, advised by the team physio not to aggravate the hamstring injury.
Thereafter, Karnataka lost wickets in a heap to L. Balaji, and Mithun arrived at the crease in the closing minutes of the first day and hit three hefty blows. When the match resumed on Monday, Tamil Nadu did not show urgency to break Mithun’s will; after 51 minutes of faltering seam bowling, off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan won a leg-before decision from umpire Anirudh Chaudhry.
Karnataka’s fierce determination not to concede anything more, resulted in Rahul and Karun adding 239 runs for an unbroken sixth-wicket, leaving Tamil Nadu with an uphill task to stay in the contest.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 134.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Ravikumar Samarth c M. Vijay b Balaji 14, K.L. Rahul batting 131, Shishir Bhavane c Indrajith b Parameswaran 0, Robin Uthappa c Indrajith b Balaji 0, Manish Pandey c Aparajith b Balaji 6, Karun Nair batting 130, Abhimanyu Mithun lbw b Rangarajan 39; Extras (lb-2, nb-1): 3; Total (for five wkts. in 99 overs): 323.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-16, 4-31, 5-84.
Tamil Nadu bowling: P. Parameswaran 16-4-53-1, L. Balaji 24-4-68-3, A. Crist 17-1-64-0, M. Rangarajan 16-1-63-1, Vijay Shankar 13-2-24-0, B. Aparajith 9-0-34-0, B. Indrajith 2-0-8-0, M. Vijay 2-0-7-0.
