Karnataka batsmen suffered a second straight implosion as they crashed to an embarrassing 174-run defeat against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Tuesday.
Resuming on an overnight score of 98/3 while chasing 352 for an improbable win, Karnataka’s out-of-sorts batsmen had no answer to the brilliance of Mukesh Kumar and Co as they folded up for 177 in the first session itself at the Eden Gardens.
Karnataka’s hopes of a miraculous win hinged on the well-set teenage talent Devdutt Padikkal (62, 129b, 7x4) and senior pro, Manish Pandey. But Mukesh (6/61), extracting the most of a lively Eden pitch where overnight moisture makes it a bowler’s ally, simply bulldozed Karnataka with a sizzling spell of 9-4-28-5.
He first sent Pandey packing in the third over of the day, then kept the batsman fishing outside and getting an edge to keeper Shreevats Goswami. Mukesh then escalated Karnataka’s downfall with a sizzling fifth over of the morning, scalping K V Siddharth and Sharath Srinivas.
The mad rush of wickets had a detrimental effect on Padikkal, who was batting comfortably at the other end. With no feet movement, he poked at a Mukesh delivery and the edge was lapped up neatly by keeper Goswami.
That was the final nail in Karnataka’s coffin. K Gowtham and Abhimanyu Mithun swung their bats around for a few minutes but Bengal maintained their discipline to eke out a superb win. This is Bengal’s first final since 2006-07 season where they lost to Mumbai.
Score Board
Bengal (I Innings): 312.
Karnataka (I Innings): 122.
Bengal (II Innings): 161.
Karnataka (II Innings, O/n: 98/3, target: 352): KL Rahul lbw Porel 0 (2b, 2m), R Samarth lbw Akash Deep 27 (69b, 121m, 2x4), Devdutt Padikkal c Goswami b Mukesh 62 (129b, 255m, 6x4), Karun Nair lbw Mukesh 6 (16b, 30m, 1x4), Manish Pandey c Goswami b Mukesh 12 (42b, 69m, 1x4), KV Siddharth c Easwaran b Mukesh 0 (6b, 11m), Sharath Srinivas lbw Mukesh 0 (1b, 4m), K Gowtham c Chakraborty (sub) b Porel 22 (23b, 41m, 4x4), Abhimanyu Mithun b Akash Deep 38 (30b, 59m, 5x4, 2x6), Ronit More c Easwaran b Mukesh 4 (7b, 11m), Prasidh Krishna (not out) 2 (8b, 16m). Extras (B-2, LB-2). Total (all out, 55.3 overs) 177.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Rahul), 2-57 (Samarth), 3-76 (Nair), 4-102 (Pandey), 5-103 (Siddharth), 6-103 (Sharath), 7-118 (Padikkal), 8-142 (Gowtham), 9-147 (More).
Bowling: Ishan Porel 19-5-58-2, Mukesh Kumar 21-5-61-6, Akash Deep 11.3-1-44-2, Arnab Nandi 4-0-10-0.