New Delhi: For the second time in three days, the Karnataka batting crumbled and for the second time in three days, stumper Chidambaram Gautam came to their rescue as Odisha tore the script to shreds to not only garner a massive 163-run lead but also rock the Karnataka boat in their second innings and take a stranglehold on the match.
If not for Gautam’s unbeaten 68 (180b, 3x4, 2x6) and his 98-run partnership with R Vinay Kumar (41, 108b, 3x4, 1x6), Karnataka would well have capitulated on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B encounter at the Palam A grounds on Wednesday.
At stumps, looking nothing like the former champs that they are, Karnataka, gasping at 133/5 were lifted out of the morass by Gautam and Vinay as they moved to 244 for six in 81 overs, a lead of mere 81 runs with Shreyas Gopal (11) giving company to the doughty wicketkeeper, who scored his second fifty of the match.
With the last recognised pair at the crease and nothing much in the bank, it will require a herculean effort from the Karnataka team to withstand the Odisha onslaught.
The twosome need to keep their opponents at bay for at least a couple of hours and then hope in any eventuality that their bowlers come up with a miraculous effort. All signs point to an Odisha unless Karnataka conjure something out of the blue.
SCOREBOARD
Karnataka (I innings): 179
Odisha (I Innings, O/n 318/9): Basant Mohanty b More 40, Ashok Mangaraj (n.o.) 10. Extras (b11, lb5) 16. Total (all out; 117.1 overs overs) 342
FoW: 9-292
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 20-3-79-1, S Arvind 22-5–41-1, S Binny 16-3-48-0, R More 14.1-2-53-1, S Gopal 27-4-75-5, K Gowtham 18-6-30-1
Karnataka (II innings): Ravikumar Samarth c Poddar b Dhiraj 49, Mayank Agarwal c Ranjit b Mohanty 7, Robin Uthappa lbw Dhiraj 32, M Kaunain Abbas c sub (Nayak) b Dhiraj 0, Stuart Binny c Pattnaik b Poddar 32, CM Gautam (batting) 68, R Vinay Kumar c Pattnaik b Samantray 41, Shreyas Gopal (batting) 11. Extras (lb1, nb3) 4. Total (for 6 wkts; 81 overs): 244
FoW: 1-16, 2-74, 3-80, 4-108, 5-133, 6-231
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 10-2-43-0, Basant Mohanty 17-6-36-1, Alok Mangaraj 10-2-37-0,
Biplab Samantray 10-0-39-1, Dhiraj Singh 20-1-54-3, Govind Poddar 14-1-34-1.
