Coming into the quarterfinals, the young pace attack of Tamil Nadu offered a picture of great promise. Yet, in a big-ticket game like the quartertinals and up against a famed Karnataka batting line-up, the margin for error was very little for them. To Tamil Nadu’s advantage, skipper Abhinav Mukund won what turned out to be an important toss and on a seaming track, the trio of Aswin Crist, T Natarajan and Krishnamoorthy Vignesh ran riot to skittle Karnataka for a paltry 88 in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal encounter here at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium on Friday.
Crist was the wrecker-in-chief, bagging six for 31 while left-arm medium pacer Natarajan, in his debut season, returned with three for 18 as Karnataka crashed to their sixth lowest Ranji total against Tamil Nadu. In response, Tamil Nadu were 111 for four at stumps, recovering from 33 for three to be ahead of their opponents by 23 runs. Karnataka lost a great opportunity to see the back of the well-set Dinesh Karthik (31 batting) in the final over of the day. Karthik top-edged a short ball off Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar. Wicketkeeper CM Gautam and Shreyas Gopal, fielding at square leg, were caught in two minds as to whose catch it was, eventually letting the ball land in between them.
A wicket at that point would have exposed Tamil Nadu’s lower order and given Karnataka some momentum going into the second day. With Karthik and skipper Abhinav Mukund (3 batting) in the middle, Tamil Nadu will look to consolidate their advantage and gain a healthy first innings lead.
Karnataka had nine players who could wield the bat effectively, including Indian stars K L Rahul and triple-centurion in the last Test, Karun Nair. Despite the depth, their dismal performance with the bat spoke of volumes of Tamil Nadu’s attack. Vinay’s men will have to be on top of their game on the second day if they are to turn the tables on Tamil Nadu.
On a bouncy surface, Crist, the 22-year-old right-arm pacer, and Natarajan came hard at the batsmen and never allowed any scoring opportunities early on. The duo was rewarded for their consistently good line and length.
After Natarajan removed the dangerous Rahul cheaply (4), Crist scalped Mir Kaunain Abbas, whose flash outside the off-stump took an edge to gully. R Samarth was then caught at point to leave Karnataka struggling at 31 for three. Karnataka’s attempt to disrupt the rhythm of the bowlers by pushing Mithun up the order backfired as he was out caught behind attempting a pull. Mithun walked back in disappointment as it looked like the ball had hit the top of his helmet.
Manish Pandey, Karnataka’s highest scorer of the day with 28, showed promise with some beautiful drives. But the right-hander’s shot across the line took a leading edge to short cover, giving Crist his second wicket.
Karun Nair, suffering from abdominal pain, looked uncomfortable in the middle and Crist produced a beauty to dismiss the right-hander, caught behind in the second over after lunch.
Karnataka’s lower order, which had staged fine recovery-acts in the group stages, couldn’t put up a fight against a disciplined bowling attack. Karnataka began well by claiming three Tamil Nadu wickets cheaply but a 70-run stand between Karthik and Vijay Shankar (34) helped them recover. Karnataka would look to strike some early blows on Saturday as they attempt to bounce back into the game.
Published 23 December 2016, 19:19 IST