DINDIGUL: A masterful century by Dinesh Karthik, crafty spin bowling by K Gowtham and movement for the pacers were all on witness on an action-packed Day 3 of Tamil Nadu's Ranji Trophy clash against Karnataka here on Wednesday.
While Karnataka secured a first-innings lead after bowling out TN for 307 despite Karthik's 113 (235 balls), the hosts fought back with five wickets. Karun Nair's boys, though, still have their noses in front, having finished the day on 89 for 5 with an overall lead of 118 runs. Gowtham was the star performer for the visiting side, taking six wickets in total including that of Karthik.
The fact that TN are not yet out of the contest, however, is largely down to Karthik. The 34-year-old went against his natural instincts and played cautiously for a major part of his innings. The restraint he displayed was the need of the hour for TN, and he buckled down to the task at hand.
"I had to fight my natural instincts at certain stages. At times, I wanted to go over the top or play reverse-sweeps. But you have to take the team into account. It would be immature on my part to play reckless shots after having played for 15 years," Karthik said at the end of the day's play.
He perhaps had a slice of good fortune on 47 when the Karnataka players were convinced that he had been stumped off Gowtham's bowling. The third umpire seemed to give the benefit of the doubt to Karthik after having a long look at the replay.
At the start of Day 3, Jagadeesan negotiated the first 90 minutes of the day alongside Karthik without much trouble. But with the Karnataka bowlers keeping a tight check on the scoring rate, Jagadeesan's patience finally ran out when he was on 29. While Karthik and R Ashwin took the team through to lunch, the second new ball taken immediately after the break brought rewards for Karnataka.
Both Ashwin and
Murugan Ashwin fell in quick succession for 11 and 1 respectively while R Sai Kishore (3) gave Gowtham his fifth wicket soon after. With TN on 278 for 8 and still trailing by 58 runs, Karthik decided to take a few more risks. Although Karthik's gamble helped him bring up his 28th first-class century off 217 balls with a nonchalant pull through midwicket, the first-innings lead proved beyond his grasp as he was caught at long-off while attempting to clear the ropes against Gowtham.
Karnataka's second innings had a wobbly beginning as they lost the wickets of
Mayank Agarwal (8), Nishcal D (0) and Karun (5) with just 23 on the board. Mayank, in particular, must have been kicking himself for being run out in just the second over courtesy a direct hit from Vijay Shankar. Nischal and Karun, meanwhile, fell prey to K Vignesh's movement with the new ball. Though Devdutt Padikkal and Pavan Deshpande stuck around and showed some resistance, Ashwin stamped his authority by removing Deshpande and
Shreyas Gopal late in the final session.
Agarwal to leave Ranji game to join up with Indian ODI squad: Having been drafted into the India ODI squad for the West Indies series in place of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal will leave the ongoing Ranji match against Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning ahead of the final day's proceedings. He has already batted for Karnataka in both innings. He is set to return home to Bengaluru before joining up with the Indian team in Chennai for the first ODI on Sunday.
SCOREBOARD:Tamil Nadu (overnight 165 for 4 in 58 overs): D Karthik c Mathias b Gowtham 113, N Jagadeesan c sub (Suchith) b Gowtham 29, R Ashwin b Koushik 11, M Ashwin c BR Sharath b More 1, R Sai Kishore c Karun b Gowtham 3, M Siddharth c Gowtham b Gopal 1, K Vignesh not out 4; Extras (b-2, lb-6, nb-7, w-2): 17; Total (all out, 109.3 overs): 307; FoW: 5-209, 6-253, 7-254, 8-278, 9-303; Bowling: More 23-5-67-2, Koushik 19-5-36-1, Mathias 14-2-36-0, Gowtham 40.3-8-110-6, Gopal 13-0-50-1
Karnataka: M Agarwal run out 8, Nischal D c Jagadeesan b Vignesh 0, D Padikkal batting 29, K Nair b Vignesh 5, P Deshpande c Aparajith b Ashwin 20, S Gopal c Aparajith b Ashwin 0, BR Sharath batting 25; Extras (lb-2): 2; Total (5 wickets, 40 overs): 89; FoW: 1-8, 2-11, 3-23, 4-59, 5-59; Bowling: Vijay Shankar 1-0-8-0, Vignesh 8-1-11-2, Ashwin 18-7-30-2, R Sai Kishore 2-0-10-0, M Siddharth 6-0-20-0, Aparajith 5-2-8-0
Start a Conversation
Post comment