By Paritosh Pramanik
NOBODY had thought of such an exciting draw to this Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ game between Vidarbha and Karnataka after first three days saw Vidarbha crawling to 542 and Karnataka responding solidly. Till the stroke of tea Karnataka had the three points for first innings lead in their sight till the game changed. Three wickets in 13 deliveries brought the hosts back in contention but in the end Karnataka’s tail proved more gritty than Vidarbha.
After a tense battle for almost 15 overs at the fag end of Sunday, Karnataka managed to take the first innings lead dashing Vidarbha’s hopes.
Karnataka were going strong till Umesh Yadav produced a breakthrough from nowhere at the stroke of tea. The rock-solid Lokesh Rahul, with a superb 158 in his bag, played on an incutter to his stumps and Vidarbha barged in soon.
This was the opening the tired Vidarbha team were waiting for. They pounced on the chance when off-spinner Akshay Wakhare got into the wicket-taking act removing Abhimanyu Mithun. With two wickets in space of eight balls there was sudden life in Vidarbha camp.
The hosts had toiled for whole afternoon with Rahul (158), Manish Pandey (69) and Ganesh Satish (42) piling on the agony.
Yadav added more drama with his reverse-swing when he trapped Satish plumb in front. Three wickets for three runs put Vidarbha in firm control. They needed another two wickets to earn three points, which was no where in their sight till tea break.
But the Karnataka tail wagged as debutant Abrar Kazi (25*) and KP Appanna (32) added 92 runs for the ninth wicket to cross Mount 542 and take the honours.
With 291 runs still to score for lead, Rahul and Manish Pandey started the cloudy morning with flurry of boundaries as Vidarbha bowlers failed to take advantage of the overcast conditions. As the day progressed, the pair continued their demolition act, decorating their wagon wheels with fours to all parts of the field.
Barring Kunal Kapoor, who managed only five runs, every Karnataka batsman had boundaries against their name. That aggressive batting helped Karnataka ease pressure. Vidarbha bowlers looked clueless as they allowed Karnataka build partnerships one after another.
Two partnerships of over 100 runs and four partnerships of over 50 showed how strong the Karnataka batting line-up was.
As for the hosts, their snail’s pace progress on the second day was the main reason for ‘losing’ this battle. Add to that, the club-level bowling, despite having one of India’s fastest bowlers in Yadav, did no good for them. Yadav bowled 34 overs, maximum by the three seamers Vidarbha used, but came into his rhythm pretty late. He finished with three wickets.
Left-arm seamer Shrikant Wagh was the most impressive bowler for the hosts. He created chances but the butter-fingered Vidarbha fielders dropped it. On the fourth day too, skipper Shalabh Shrivastava dropped his opposite number CM Gautam at slips off Wagh.
Shrivastava’s tactics, too, were surprising. When Karnataka were eight down he chose to employ a defensive field. That allowed the Number 9 and 10 gain confidence.
With this draw, Vidarbha have lost the initiative of climbing on the points table. It will get more difficult from here on as they would now play all their matches away. The first big test is coming in four days’ time against champions Mumbai at Wankhede. Vidarbha will have to immediately arrest their problems if they want to put some decent fight in next 30 days.
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Vid skipper Shalabh lashes out at indisciplined bowlers
Principal Correspondent
NO CAPTAIN would be happy if his bowlers concede 61 boundaries and seven sixes from 149 overs. Vidarbha skipper Shalabh Shrivastava was no different in putting the blame on his bowlers, which included one of the fastest bowlers Umesh Yadav.
Karnataka scored 286 runs from boundaries and sixes to take three points from first innings lead after the hosts had posted 542 in their innings.
“Our bowlers did not bowl according to plan. They were indisciplined. While Karnataka bowlers bowled tight line and length, our bowlers failed to stick to it,” said Shrivastava after game.
“Karnataka have a strong batting line-up. You have to be very tight while bowling which our bowlers failed to do. We gave too much of width and there were short deliveries too.”
Karnataka centurion KL Rahul said his side was confident of crossing 542. “We were confident of crossing that target. We have a very strong batting line-up and today the way we batted showed how close we are as a team,” said Rahul about the partnerships they made in the match. But the way he got out irked the right-hander. “I was disappointed with the way I got out. It has happened to me earlier also. But overall, I am satisfied with my innings,” he said. Rahul said their plan was the see off Umesh Yadav and target others. “We wanted to see off his (Yadav’s) overs and target others. But we managed to pick runs from him also which helped us. We all played with a positive mindset,” he said.
NOBODY had thought of such an exciting draw to this Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ game between Vidarbha and Karnataka after first three days saw Vidarbha crawling to 542 and Karnataka responding solidly. Till the stroke of tea Karnataka had the three points for first innings lead in their sight till the game changed. Three wickets in 13 deliveries brought the hosts back in contention but in the end Karnataka’s tail proved more gritty than Vidarbha.
After a tense battle for almost 15 overs at the fag end of Sunday, Karnataka managed to take the first innings lead dashing Vidarbha’s hopes.
Karnataka were going strong till Umesh Yadav produced a breakthrough from nowhere at the stroke of tea. The rock-solid Lokesh Rahul, with a superb 158 in his bag, played on an incutter to his stumps and Vidarbha barged in soon.
This was the opening the tired Vidarbha team were waiting for. They pounced on the chance when off-spinner Akshay Wakhare got into the wicket-taking act removing Abhimanyu Mithun. With two wickets in space of eight balls there was sudden life in Vidarbha camp.
The hosts had toiled for whole afternoon with Rahul (158), Manish Pandey (69) and Ganesh Satish (42) piling on the agony.
Yadav added more drama with his reverse-swing when he trapped Satish plumb in front. Three wickets for three runs put Vidarbha in firm control. They needed another two wickets to earn three points, which was no where in their sight till tea break.
But the Karnataka tail wagged as debutant Abrar Kazi (25*) and KP Appanna (32) added 92 runs for the ninth wicket to cross Mount 542 and take the honours.
With 291 runs still to score for lead, Rahul and Manish Pandey started the cloudy morning with flurry of boundaries as Vidarbha bowlers failed to take advantage of the overcast conditions. As the day progressed, the pair continued their demolition act, decorating their wagon wheels with fours to all parts of the field.
Barring Kunal Kapoor, who managed only five runs, every Karnataka batsman had boundaries against their name. That aggressive batting helped Karnataka ease pressure. Vidarbha bowlers looked clueless as they allowed Karnataka build partnerships one after another.
Two partnerships of over 100 runs and four partnerships of over 50 showed how strong the Karnataka batting line-up was.
As for the hosts, their snail’s pace progress on the second day was the main reason for ‘losing’ this battle. Add to that, the club-level bowling, despite having one of India’s fastest bowlers in Yadav, did no good for them. Yadav bowled 34 overs, maximum by the three seamers Vidarbha used, but came into his rhythm pretty late. He finished with three wickets.
Left-arm seamer Shrikant Wagh was the most impressive bowler for the hosts. He created chances but the butter-fingered Vidarbha fielders dropped it. On the fourth day too, skipper Shalabh Shrivastava dropped his opposite number CM Gautam at slips off Wagh.
Shrivastava’s tactics, too, were surprising. When Karnataka were eight down he chose to employ a defensive field. That allowed the Number 9 and 10 gain confidence.
With this draw, Vidarbha have lost the initiative of climbing on the points table. It will get more difficult from here on as they would now play all their matches away. The first big test is coming in four days’ time against champions Mumbai at Wankhede. Vidarbha will have to immediately arrest their problems if they want to put some decent fight in next 30 days.
-----------
Vid skipper Shalabh lashes out at indisciplined bowlers
Principal Correspondent
NO CAPTAIN would be happy if his bowlers concede 61 boundaries and seven sixes from 149 overs. Vidarbha skipper Shalabh Shrivastava was no different in putting the blame on his bowlers, which included one of the fastest bowlers Umesh Yadav.
Karnataka scored 286 runs from boundaries and sixes to take three points from first innings lead after the hosts had posted 542 in their innings.
“Our bowlers did not bowl according to plan. They were indisciplined. While Karnataka bowlers bowled tight line and length, our bowlers failed to stick to it,” said Shrivastava after game.
“Karnataka have a strong batting line-up. You have to be very tight while bowling which our bowlers failed to do. We gave too much of width and there were short deliveries too.”
Karnataka centurion KL Rahul said his side was confident of crossing 542. “We were confident of crossing that target. We have a very strong batting line-up and today the way we batted showed how close we are as a team,” said Rahul about the partnerships they made in the match. But the way he got out irked the right-hander. “I was disappointed with the way I got out. It has happened to me earlier also. But overall, I am satisfied with my innings,” he said. Rahul said their plan was the see off Umesh Yadav and target others. “We wanted to see off his (Yadav’s) overs and target others. But we managed to pick runs from him also which helped us. We all played with a positive mindset,” he said.
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