Dropped catches and improved batting conditions combined to prolong Karnataka’s wait for a potential win as Baroda lived to fight another day.
After a busy opening day, when a whopping 17 wickets tumbled, Thursday’s second day appeared to move at a snail’s pace with Baroda batsmen battling hard and the pitch behaving considerably less spiteful. The last three Karnataka batsmen batted for 94 minutes this morning while it took home bowlers a good 67 overs to dismiss five of Baroda batsmen in their second innings as only eight wickets fell on the day.
Overnight 165/7, Karnataka added 64 more runs to their total before being dismissed for 233. A Mithun (40, 46b, 6x4) was the main contributor in the extension of their score with some customary lusty blows. The hard-working Soyib Soparia, the medium pacer who bowled a whopping 24 overs in the absence of his injured new-ball bowler Babasafikhan Pathan, richly deserved his five-wicket (5/83) haul.
Armed with a healthy lead of 148 runs and potentially needing only eight wickets, Karnataka would have harboured an early finish to the match, but Baroda batsmen weren’t willing to go down without a fight. They ended the second day of the Group B Ranji Trophy contest on a much healthier note -- 208/5, establishing a 60-run lead.
While they still have five wickets in hand, there is a doubt over two of them coming out to bat. While Babasafikhan, down with a hamstring, is all but ruled out from batting, Viraj Bhosale didn’t accompany the team to the ground on the day due to high fever. He is on antibiotics and a call on him will be taken later.
Karnataka too had a couple of injury scares on the day when Sharath Srinivas was hit his ribcage while batting and when KV Siddharth was struck on the back of his head while fielding at short-leg. Sharath went for a scan and returned to keep wickets after an all-clear signal but Siddharth’s condition is yet to be ascertained.
Baroda openers Kedar Devdhar and Ahmadnoor Pathan (90, 162b, 8x4, 3x6), who survived a few anxious moments, denied Karnataka an early success. It needed more than 20 overs and a return to the attack of Prasidh Krishna (2/29) to get a breakthrough. Having done all the hard work of seeing the new ball off, Devdhar attempted to hit a harmless delivery over point but couldn’t beat Pravin Dubey at that position.
In the next over, K Gowtham sent back Vishnu Solanki, catching the right-hander plumb in front with an armer. If one envisaged another procession of Baroda batsmen at this stage like on the opening day, it was not to be. Opener Pathan, their top-scorer in the first innings, and Deepak Hooda (50, 71b, 3x4, 2x6) launched a stunning counterattack wherein they shared a 94-run stand in just 121 balls, almost wiping off Karnataka’s lead.
Both the batsmen were beneficiaries of Karnataka’s largesse on the field. Pathan was reprieved on 55 while Hooda was grassed on 27. Karnataka were to drop two more later in the day and the bowlers’ frustrations were understandable. On a day when the pitch wasn’t exactly their ally, they could have done with some help from the bowlers.
SCORE BOARD
BARODA (I Innings): 85 all out
KARNATAKA (I Innings; O/n: 165/7): R Samarth c Bhosale b Rajput 11 (71m, 48b, 1x4), Devdutt Padikkal b Abhimanyu Singh 6 (51m, 30b, 1x4), Siddharth K V c P Kohli b Bhatt 29 (94m, 72b, 2x4, 1x6), Karun Nair b Bhatt 47 (95m, 75b, 6x4), Pavan Deshpande c Bhosale b Sopariya 15 (29m, 18b, 3x4), S Sharath c & b K Pandya 34 (131m, 92b, 6x4), Shreyas Gopal c Bhosale b Sopariya 0 (1m, 1b), K Gowtham c P Kohli b Sopariya 27 (28m, 16b, 3x4, 2x6), A Mithun c K Pandya b Sopariya 40 (71m, 46b, 6x4), Ronit More c P Kohli b Sopariya 8 (43m, 26b, 1x4), Prasidh Krishna (not out) 10 (23m, 14b, 2x4). Extras (B-1, NB-1, W-4) 6. Total (all out, 72.5 overs) 233
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Padikkal), 2-27 (Samarth), 3-88 (Siddharth), 4-102 (Karun Nair), 5-110 (Deshpande), 6-110 (Shreyas), 7-142 (Gowtham), 8-204 (Mithun), 9-212 (S Sharath).
Bowling: Babasafikhan Pathan 3.5-1-10-0, Soyeb Sopariya 24.5-7-83-5, Abhimanyusingh Rajput 7.1-3-17-2, Bhargav Bhatt 24-4-74-2, Vishnu Solanki 8-0-30-0, Krunal Pandya 5-1-18-1.
BARODA (II Innings): Kedar Devdhar c Dubey b Prasidh 15 (87m, 64b, 2x4), Ahmadnoor Pathan c S Sharath b Prasidh 90 (252m, 162b, 8x4, 3x6), Vishnu Solanki lbw Gowtham 2 (10m, 9b), Deepak Hooda b More 50 (83m, 71b, 3x4, 2x6), Krunal Pandya c Padikkal b More 5 (31m, 20b, 1x4), Abhimanyusingh Rajput (batting) 31 (67m, 52b, 5x4), Parth Kohli (batting) 4 (29m, 28b).
Extras (B-4, LB-3, NB-4) 11. Total (for 5 wkts, 67 overs) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Devdhar), 2-48 (Solanki), 3-142 (Hooda), 4-159 (Hooda), 5-188 (A Pathan).
Bowling: A Mithun 9-2-30-0 (nb-1), Prasidh Krishna 13-3-29-2, K Gowtham 27-4-88-1, Ronit More 11-3-36-2 (nb-3), Pavan Deshpande 2-0-6-0, Shreyas Gopal 5-1-12-0.