There is life in this game yet. Karnataka produced a disarrayed second innings batting performance, with the noble exception of K.L. Rahul, to lend Uttar Pradesh a little hope of success in this Ranji Trophy quarterfinal.
The home side was shot out for 204 on Friday, with Rahul stranded forlorn at the non-striker’s end on 92.
Set 333 for victory, the visitors set off admirably, enduring no loss for an hour or so until Shreyas Gopal struck. The leg-spinner snared Mukul Dagar in the penultimate over of the day, the batsman edging to slip.
Leading up to that point, however, Karnataka, missing a frontline bowler in H.S. Sharath (whose shoulder injury is evidently more serious than the team was willing to admit on Thursday), had struggled to make inroads.
It did not help that Karun Nair dropped Tanmay Srivastava on 20 at gully. At stumps on day three at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Uttar Pradesh was 55 for one, 278 away from the target.
“I wouldn’t be too worried,” Rahul said later. “I think we have enough runs on the board. You never feel in on this wicket.”
In the morning, Uttar Pradesh declared on its overnight score — the hamstrung R.P. Singh not emerging to bat — to concede a first-innings lead of 128. Robin Uthappa was dismissed at once, trapped in front by Ankit Rajpoot.
Vinay Kumar and Abrar Kazi were the next two men in, perhaps with a view to blunting the new ball when the pitch was still fresh. They left within minutes of each other, both claimed by Ali Murtaza, and when Manish Pandey top-edged an ill-conceived hoick, it left Karnataka 33 for four.
Amidst all the hurly-burly, though, Rahul batted with a monkish serenity. The 21-year-old opener is now the season’s third highest run-maker; and even the two above him have scored nearly all of their runs in Group C.
Rahul drove beautifully all through his innings, the pick of his shots a handsomely drilled four through extra-cover off Rajpoot.
Karun Nair fell at the other end, but Rahul carried on assuredly in the company of C.M. Gautam. The pair had compiled 63 runs, threatening to haul the game inch by inch beyond the opponent’s reach, when Gautam was sharply run out by Dagar at forward short-leg.
Murtaza then mopped up the rest, including R. Samarth who batted with a broken finger, to finish with figures of six for 64.
“We have the upper hand,” the left-arm spinner said later. But Karnataka will disagree.
The scores: Karnataka — 1st innings: 349
Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 221 for nine decl.
Karnataka — 2nd innings: Robin Uthappa lbw b Rajpoot 0, K.L. Rahul (not out) 92, R. Vinay Kumar lbw b Murtaza 9, Abrar Kazi c Dwivedi b Murtaza 0, Manish Pandey c Murtaza b Mishra 6, Karun Nair c Dagar b Rajpoot 25, C.M. Gautam run out 36, Shreyas Gopal c Dagar b Murtaza 9, R. Samarth lbw b Murtaza 6, A. Mithun b Murtaza 19, H.S. Sharath lbw b Murtaza 0; Extras (b-1, lb-1) 2; Total (in 66.5 overs) 204.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-11, 3-15, 4-33, 5-73, 6-136, 7-160, 8-178, 9-204.
Uttar Pradesh bowling: Ankit Rajpoot 17-9-30-2, Amit Mishra 16-4-55-1, Ali Murtaza 16.5-2-64-6, Piyush Chawla 17-4-53-0.
Uttar Pradesh — 2nd innings: Tanmay Srivastava (batting) 23, Mukul Dagar c Uthappa b Shreyas 23, Ali Murtaza (batting) 2; Extras (b-4, lb-3) 7; Total (for one wkt in 16.2 overs) 55.
Fall of wickets: 1-53.
Karnataka bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 8-3-18-0, A. Mithun 7-1-25-0, Robin Uthappa 1-0-2-0, Shreyas Gopal 1-0-3-1, Abrar Kazi 1-1-0-0.
