6 months ago
3
A antiaircraft Kerala, gambling connected anemic spinners, handed implicit the vantage to Karnataka connected the archetypal time of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B lucifer astatine the KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram, present connected Saturday.
Karun Nair’s 26th First Class period (142 batting) and 2nd consecutive 1 against the big saw Karnataka extremity the time astatine 319 for three. Karun and R. Smaran (88 batting) piled connected Kerala’s agony with an unbroken 183-run basal for the 4th wicket.
A level way and a non-threatening onslaught were the cleanable look for Karun to excavation successful and heap up a large score. The Kerala bowling lacked the borderline erstwhile the transportation mislaid its aboriginal zip. M.D. Nidheesh and N.P. Basil nipped retired openers Mayank Agarawl (five) and K.V. Aneesh (eight) cheaply to person Karnataka successful occupation astatine 13 for two.
However, Karun joined Krishnan Shrijith successful the mediate to flip the script. The batters chose contrasting styles to blunt the Kerala attack. Karun was cheeky astatine start, paddle sweeping and reverse sweeping the spinners for boundaries portion Shrijith played the accepted shots with condemnation to scope his 50 earlier lunch.
However, the left-hander top-edged a expanse disconnected B. Aparajith and was caught by Ahammed Imran astatine square-leg, ending the 123-run stand.
After lunch, Karun played the spinners with much fluency, bringing retired his wide repertoire of strokes. Karun slapped Aparajith done the covers for a bound and lifted him implicit long-on for a six to alteration gears. Smaran punched Harikrishnan done the covers for his archetypal bound arsenic the concern prospered.
Karun deed Basil for consecutive boundaries to determination into his 90s and soon completed his century. Karun past precocious chopped Aparajith for a bound to instrumentality Karnataka past 300.
The time ended arsenic it began ominously for Kerala with Ankit Sharma pulling retired owed to a broadside strain. Rohan Kunnummal’s unwellness forced the location squad to tinker with the playing XI. Vaisakh Chandran’s rustiness was glaring arsenic the Karnataka batters toyed with the Kerala bowling.
The scores:
Karnataka — 1st innings: K.V. Aneesh c Azharuddeen b Basil 8, Mayank Agarawal c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 5, K.L. Shrijith c Imran b Aparajith 65, Karun Nair (batting) 142, R. Smaran (batting) 88. Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-2): 11; Total (for 3 wkts. successful 90 overs): 319.
Fall of wickets: 1-11 2-13, 3-136.
Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 16-4-41-1, Vaisakh 10-0-42-0, Basil 16-2-58-1, Harikrishnan 14-0-69-0, Aparajith 23-2-65-1, Akshay 11-0-35-0.
Toss: Karnataka.
