Captain Mayank Agarwal couldn’t hide his disappointment on Sunday as the Karnataka team trudged back to the pavilion after falling at the semifinal stage of the Ranji Trophy for a fourth time in the last five seasons. He removed his beloved Karnataka cap, looked heavenwards, ruffled his hair and wondered “Oh no, not again”.
Agarwal had done everything possible as a skipper to try and break that jinx. He scored a masterful 245 to haul Karnataka from deep trouble and help post a fairly competitive 407 against their nemesis Saurashtra. Their bowlers also tried hard but the belligerence of Sheldon Jackson (160) and the brilliance of Arpit Vasavada (202) saw Saurashtra take a massive 120-run first innings lead and from thereon, there was no way back for the hosts.
While Karnataka, who fought till the very end at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the hope of creating a miracle, can claim they were trumped by a resolute Saurashtra, there’s more truth to another failure in the knockout stage – they’ve also lost two quarterfinals since the 2016-17 season. For the second most successful team in Ranji Trophy, it’s a shocking statistic.
Three things that were bogging Karnataka right throughout the season flared up yet again in the semifinal and against an incredibly consistent side like Saurashtra, it was not going to be left unpunished. The poor form of senior batter Manish Pandey, leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal’s inability to take wickets and lacklustre fielding and catching all combined to spell doom for them.
Pandey amassed 488 runs from 12 innings and scored two centuries, including a double, which is decent but his best came against a lowly Goa. He had two ducks and aggregated a mere 69 runs in his last five innings. Even in the semifinal against Saurashtra when the need of the hour was application he chose to play a big shot and was out for 7. He made 4 in the second.
Not just this season, Pandey has oscillated between the brilliant and the ordinary, rarely showing the consistency of his fellow skipper Agarwal who scored 990 runs this season. He’s stuck by his ultra-aggressive batting and has often perished with the risky approach, often letting the team down in the process.
Karnataka also faulted in the selection of leg-spinner Shreyas, seemingly picked because of his batting pedigree. The 29-year-old was struggling from the beginning and it continued in the semifinal too, often releasing the pressure created by the pacers as he struggled to exercise control. It's also true that he hardly got to bowl at the beginning of the season.
Off-spinner K Gowtham too had his share of struggles at the start but he discovered his mojo as the season progressed and in fact single-handedly threatened to pull off a coup in the second innings against Saurashtra with a ripping spell.
The big problem for Karnataka though is the lack of spin resources which doesn’t augur well for the future. With knockouts being five-day affairs, spin inevitably will have a role to play if the match lasts its distance and without two quality tweakers, they’ll struggle to get results.
“There are four kids who are talented but they are still not Ranji level,” said a former State player who wished not to be named. “Mohsin Khan, Dheeraj Gowda, Hardik Raj and Rohit Kumar AC have the skills but they need to be groomed. Problem is they aren’t because KCSA academies are lying dormant. It’s shame that Karnataka has all the facilities but the lack of academies is hindering progress. Talents are just going waste.”
While the selectors and administrators ponder over corrective measures during the off-season, special mention to the emergence of new batting talent SJ Nikin Jose. The Mysuru boy hit his first-class century in the semifinal and with 547 runs in his debut season, he has shown his prowess.
Another big plus was the form of pacers V Koushik (24 wickets), Vidwath Kaverappa (30) and V Vyshak (31), who combined nicely to pull off some incredible wins.