Koushik demolishes Punjab with career best figures

Hubballi: V Koushik produced magic with the ball in the morning and a determined Devdutt Padikkal showcased his brilliance with bat under the balmy Hubballi winter sun as Karnataka dominated Punjab on the first  day of their Ranji Trophy opener on Friday.

Preying on the patience of Punjab batters with some exceptional wicket-to-wicket bowling, the 31-year-old Koushik bagged a career-best 7/41 to shoot out the visitors for 152 in 46.5 overs. Young Padikkal then smashed a run-a-ball 80 (14x4) to steer Karnataka 142/3, the hosts unlucky to lose the talented Nikkin Jose SJ to a half-hearted appeal from Naman Dhir at the KSCA Stadium. 

Karnataka got exactly what they wanted when Punjab skipper won the toss and opted to take first strike. According to pacer Koushik, speaking at the end of day’s play, they would have bowled first had they won the toss given the ‘damp’ pitch and gentle breeze blowing through the ground.

Having got their wish, they bamboozled dumbstruck Punjab batters, especially Koushik. The pacer just kept asking one tough question after another and Punjab failed atrociously at the test. Koushik’s first spell read 8-3-20-4 and second 3-2-8-1 that reduced Punjab to 99/5 at lunch. There was was no let-up in the second session too and Punjab crumbled, Vyshak Vijaykumar bagging a couple and debutant spinner Rohit Kumar AC scalping the last wicket.

Karnataka got off to bad start, losing skipper Mayank Agarwal for naught. R Samarth and Padikkal then steadied the ship with a 76-run stand before the former departed to spinner Prerit Dutta. From 92/2, Karnataka slipped to 110/3 when Jose was adjudged leg-before, much to his surprise. Padikkal, batting with the confidence that shot him into prominence, and seasoned Manish Pandey ensured no further damage, hosts now looking to bat Punjab out of the game on Saturday.

SCORE BOARD 

PUNJAB (I Innings): Prabhsimran Singh c Pandey b Koushik 5 (14b 1x4) Abhishek Sharma b Kousik 26 (40b 4x4 1x6) Naman Dhir c Sharath b Koushik 4 (7b 1x4) Mandeep Singh c Pandey b Koushik 1 (15) Nehal Wadhera c Sharath b Koushik 44 (79b 7x4) Gitansh Khera c Sharath b Koushik 27 (44b 5x4) Prerit Dutta c Shararth b Vyshak 8 (15b 2x4) Mayank Markande (not out) 26 (44b 5x5) Siddharth Kaul c Sharath b Koushik 0 (1b) Arshdeep Singh b Vyshak 7 (5b 1x6) Baltej Singh c sub (Bedare) b Rohit 0 (17b). Extras (LB-3 W-1) 4. TOTAL (all out 46.5 overs) 152.    Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Prabhsimran) 2-23 (Dhir) 3-36 (Abhishek) 4-37 (Mandeep) 5-89 (Khera) 6-106 (Dutta) 7-122 (Wadhera) 8-122 (Kaul) 9-131 (Arshdeep). Bowling: Vidwath Kaverappa 11-0-54-0 V Koushik 15-6-41-7 Vyshak  V 13-0-35-2 Rohit Kumar A C 6.5-1-18-1 Shubhang Hegde 1-0-1-0.

KARNATAKA (I Innings): R Samarth b Dutta 38 (62b 5x4) Mayank Agarwal c Dhir b Arshdeep 0 Devdutt Padikkal (batting) 80 (80b 14x4) SJ Nikin Jose lbw 8 (26b) Manish Pandey (batting) 13 (22b). Extras (LB-3) 3. TOTAL (for 3 wkts 33 overs) 142.   Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Agarwal) 2-92 (Samarth) 3-110 (Jose).  Bowling: Baltej Singh 10-1-30-0 Arshdeep Singh 8-1-37-1 Siddarth Kaul 6-0-40-0 Prerit Dutta 4-0-18-1 Naman Dhir 4-1-13-1 Mayank Markande 1-0-1-0. Brief scores of other Group C games: (In Agartala): Tripura: 261/4 in 74 overs (Sridam Paul 112 Sudip Chatterjee 42 Ganesh Satish 59 n.o.; Lakshya Garg 2-38) vs Goa.  In Chandigarh: Chandigarh: 96 all out in 38.3 overs (Himanshu Sangwan 2-32 Yuvraj Singh 5-10) vs Railways: 73/0 in 16 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 45 n.o. Vivek Singh 28 n.o.).  In Valsad: Gujarat: 236 all out in 72.3 overs (Manan Hingrajia 65 Kshitij Patel 33 Umang Kumar 76 Ripal Patel 27; Sandeep Warrier 4-57 Mohammed Mohammed 5-44) vs Tamil Nadu.