Saurashtra batsmen frustrate Karnataka

Rookie Prerak Mankad chalked up his maiden Ranji Trophy century in a strong batting display from Saurashtra, and made Karnataka pay dearly for their listlessness on the second day of the Group B contest on Wednesday.

The pitch at the Dhruve Pandove stadium surprised all and sundry by easing out. On day one, Saurashtra spinners had run amok against Karnataka, the pitch being slow and double paced. Batting became easier this morning, though the surface continued to be slow. Helped by the generosity of Karnataka fielders, Saurashtra, which had begun the day on 19/2, batted through the day.

As Saurashtra plundered runs to swell their first innings total to 297/6 at stumps, Karnataka looked lost on the field. They surrendered the first-innings lead in second successive contest. Dropped chances and half chances only increased their woes.
 
Mankad, when on 58, was dropped by Shreyas Gopal at extra-cover off left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi while Kamlesh Makwana was dropped by Robin Uthappa at the first slip off Stuart Binny. When bad light drew early stumps, Saurashtra had taken a significant first-innings lead of 97 runs. Mankad (100 n.o., 126b, 15x4, 1x6) was received by team-mates with a warm cheer, and Makvana (30, 119b, 4x4) had made the most of the reprieve. Together, the two batsmen had stitched an unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 101. Karnataka captain and fast bowler R Vinay Kumar (4/43) was the only bowler to make some impact, followed by Kazi (2/66).

The foundation for Saurashtra fightback was laid by their overnight batsman Snell Patel. Having survived a tough caught behind chance in the first over of the day, Snell showed the way to his struggling side, which is yet to the win a match this season. Despite the early loss of experienced Sheldon Jackson, who edged Vinay’s away going delivery, Saurashtra gained from strength to strength. Snell, essaying some delectable late cuts, reached his half-century with a perfect sweep shot that raced all the way to the boundary rope. With captain Jaydev Shah, Snell steadied the ship for Saurashtra, the two adding 82 runs for the fourth wicket. Vinay separated the two. Shah’s ambitious attempt to pull Vinay landed into Shreyas’s hands at deep square leg.

Immediate success
When Saurashtra took lunch, they were trailing by 70 runs at 130/4, but on resumption they hastened to even out the matters. Karnataka struck immediately after resumption when Kazi bowled Arpit Vasavada, who had kneeled down for a sweep, but missed the line of the ball, that crashed into his stumps.

 That brought Mankad to the crease. The youngster exhibited the maturity and patience required to play on the surface. Guided by Snell, he played late and didn’t go into the shell by being overly defensive on the slow surface. In fact, the standout feature of his knock was that he scored at a fast clip. When Saurashtra needed five runs to overtake Karnataka’s first innings total, Snell was dismissed when he pulled  Kazi to square leg.

Mankad and Makvana ensured that the lead was erased in 66.2 over and when they took tea, Saurashtra had nosed ahead by 41 runs.