Ranji Trophy: Railways pacers put Karnataka on the mat

So when R Vinay Kumar called correctly before start of play against Railways, it came as a surpise that the Karnataka skipper called to bat. One could argue that Karnataka with consecutive wins were boldly seizing the initiative but on the face of it it was a strange decision. There was plenty of cloud cover as well – enough to delay the start of play by nearly an hour and a half. Curator Sanjeev Agarwal had left a healthy cover of grass on the track — more than on the pitches for the previous two games. It certainly was a strange decision.

At the end of the first day, it could be said that Vinay Kumar’s gamble hadn’t paid off in the manner he would’ve hoped as Karnataka finished on 207/7. It was pacer KK Upadhyay who did the bulk of the damage, finishing with figures of 4/75. 

Ranjeet Mali took two wickets (2/43) while left arm spinner Avinash Yadav, who bowled five overs of spin out of the 66 overs possible scalped the others. Batting in the conditions on offer was always going to be difficult and none of the Karnataka batsmen really looked in complete control during their innings.

The Railways bowlers didn’t make things any easier by bowling tight lines. Bowling unchanged through the curtailed first session, Upadhyay and Anureet Singh gave little away. Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal survived a close shout for caught behind off Anureet when batting on seven while Robin Uthappa got a life on 37 when keeper Mahesh Rawat put down a hard chance off Upadhyay. Neither batsmen could make much use of the chances.

Agarwal went for the same score caught at second slip off Upadhyay, while Uthappa got through to lunch safely but fell three balls after the resumption of play for 40. Manish Pandey attempted to hit his way out of trouble, hitting Anureet for two fours and a six in the 22nd over but perished in the same manner an over later. Looking to clear the infield against Ranjit Mali, Pandey only found Arnab Nandi at midoff.

Karun Nair subsequently suffered another failure when he was trapped in front by Mali in the 35th over and Railways were in trouble at 100/4. A 53-run stand between Kunal Kapoor and Stuart Binny settled some nerves. Kapoor started dourly but opened up later. He clattered Upadhyay for a hattrick of fours. Consecutive fours — one a leading edge over the slips and another, his ninth, a more composed cover drive — took him to 53.

However, he was caught behind the next over. When Binny (19) spooned a soft catch off the spinner Karnataka were 161/6. Railways would have hoped to roll over the visitors for a sub-200 total when Upadhyay had R Vinay Kumar caught in the slips with the score on 174. However, they let a chance slip when Anureet induced an edge from Shreyas Gopal but Nandi at slip couldn’t grab on to the chance.

Brief scores: Karnataka 207/7 (K.R. Kapoor 53, R Uthappa 40; K Upadhyay 4/75, R Mali 2/43) versus Railways.