Brilliant centuries from skipper Manish Pandey (156, 121b, 12x4, 10x6) and K.V. Siddharth (140 n.o., 221b, 17x4, 2x6) powered Karnataka to 392/5 against Railways at the end of the first day of its Elite Group C Ranji Trophy here at the IC Guru Nanak College grounds on Thursday.
Ideal batting conditions
Asked to bat first, Karnataka made good use of ideal batting conditions as their experienced batting line-up feasted on some ordinary bowling.
Pandey, who walked in after the fall of the third wicket just after lunch, wasted no time in relaying his intentions as he hit the second ball he faced off left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav for a six down long-on.
He was supported by Siddharth at the other end who played a measured knock without many risks as they added 267 runs for the fourth wicket off just 283 balls. Along with R. Samarth, Siddharth rebuilt the innings after the openers were dismissed.
After Samarth got out for a well-made 47, caught at slip by Avinash, Pandey changed the tempo of the innings with his counter-attack and raced to 34 off just 19 balls.
Both Pandey and Siddharth were fed a lot of short balls by the spinners Avinash and Karn Sharma and they played the pulls, sweeps and cuts to keep finding boundaries.
Both batters got to their centuries in style with Siddharth lofting Avinash while Pandey hoisted Mishra for sixes.
Speaking after the day’s play, Pandey said, “this is a small ground and I just wanted to get some quick runs to start with and build upon that momentum. As a team, we are looking to bat only once, score as many runs as possible and give the bowlers a chance in the end,” he added.
Mayank misses out
Earlier, India opener Mayank could not get a big one after he was run out by a brilliant direct hit from Mrunal Devdhar at gully. Pacer Yuvraj Singh had struck Mayank on his pads and as the batter wandered out looking at the umpire for a leg-before appeal; the ball lobbed to Devdhar who took an opportunistic throw at the stumps.
Yuvraj was the best bowler for Railways extracting bounce from a good length and asking questions of the batters but lacked support from his teammates.
The scores:
Karnataka — 1st innings: Mayank Agarwal run out 16, Devdutt Padikkal c Upendra b Yuvraj 21, R. Samarth c Shivam Choudhary b Avinash 47, K.V. Siddharth (batting) 140, Manish Pandey 156 c Yuvraj b Shivam Chaudhary 156, S. Sharath st Upendra b Shivam Chaudhary 5, Shreyas Gopal (batting) 1; Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-1) 6. Total (for five wkts. in 90 overs): 392.
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-50, 3-110, 4-377, 5-384.
Railways bowling: Amit Mishra 19-4-74-0, Himanshu Sangwan 2.1-0-7-0, Yuvraj Singh 18-4-52-1, Avinash Yadav 25.5-2-132-1, Karn Sharma 14-1-75-0, Shivam Choudhary 6.5-1-22-2, Mohammed Saif 4.1-0-26-0.
Toss: Railways.
