Sport - Cricket

Karnataka in a spot of bother

— Photo: K. Pichumani

CAPTAIN’S KNOCK: Tamil Nadu skipper S. Badrinath, who scored a century, sends one to the fence in the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu assumed control of the third round Ranji Trophy Super League match against Karnataka on Saturday thanks largely to the efforts of S. Badrinath (143) and R. Ramkumar (65 and three for 32).

Resuming on 289 for five, Tamil Nadu scored 421, courtesy a seventh-wicket partnership of 83 between Badrinath and Ramkumar, before being bowled out. Ramkumar then took three wickets to help reduce Karnataka to 144 for six at close on the second day of the four-day match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu lost K.H. Gopinath to a miscued pull within the first half-hour. But, Ramkumar prevented Karnataka from seizing the initiative. The tall left-hander out-scored Badrinath in their partnership, racing to 65 in 75 balls before edging Vinay Kumar to slip.

Ramkumar struck nine fours and a six in his 93-minute stay. Barring a touch of carelessness at the beginning, his batting was secure. He drove pleasantly through the off-side and back-cut skilfully.

Badrinath opened out once Ramkumar left. He showed his repertoire in a Vinay Kumar over — a pull sped to the boundary rope and a square-cut burst through Robin Uthappa’s hands and went for four, but the stroke that stood out was a short-arm pull off a delivery of good length. The captain’s ninth Ranji century spanned seven hours and a minute, and included 14 fours and two sixes.

Vinay Kumar, Aiyappa and Sunil Joshi took three wickets each for Karnataka.

Tamil Nadu began well with the ball. P. Amarnath produced a delivery that jagged back and bowled K.B. Pawan. V. Yomahesh had a close shout for leg-before against Uthappa.

Denied by the umpire, he forced Uthappa to edge a lovely outswinger to the wicketkeeper.

Ramkumar maintained a tight line from wide off the crease and reaped the wickets of Sudhindra Shinde, C. Raghu and Thilak Naidu. Shinde’s stroke-filled 45 (64b, 9x4) sparkled briefly, but it was the partnership between captain Yere Goud (34) and Thilak Naidu (36) that posed the biggest threat to Tamil Nadu after the inroads were made.

Both fell to outstanding catches. Naidu was snapped up by S. Anirudha, who flung himself to his right at mid-wicket. Goud was caught down the leg-side by the ’keeper Gopinath off a rising Amarnath delivery. Gopinath made good ground on his feet and hung on to the sharp chance.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: S. Anirudha lbw b Vinay Kumar 0, M. Vijay c Naidu b Aiyappa 32, Abhinav Mukund (run out) 108, S. Badrinath c Shinde b Joshi 143, K. Shri Vasudeva Das c Shinde b Joshi 12, R. Srinivasan c Vinay Kumar b Aiyappa 27, K.H. Gopinath c Goud b Aiyappa 3, R. Ramkumar c Akhil b Vinay Kumar 65, V. Yomahesh lbw b Joshi 0, C. Suresh (not out) 7, P. Amarnath c Pawan b Vinay Kumar 8; Extras (b-7, lb-5, nb-2, w-2): 16; Total (in 132.2 overs): 421.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-67, 3-206, 4-223, 5-282, 6-294, 7-377, 8-390, 9-407.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay Kumar 30.2-12-74-3, Aiyappa 23-1-73-3, Akhil 15-3-52-0, Joshi 37-10-103-3, Appanna 16-0-73-0, Raghu 11-1-34-0.

Karnataka — 1st innings: R. Uthappa c Gopinath b Yomahesh 15, K.B. Pawan b Amarnath 3, S. Shinde b Ramkumar 45, C. Raghu lbw b Ramkumar 6, Y. Goud c Gopinath b Amarnath 34, T. Naidu c Anirudha b Ramkumar 36, B. Akhil (batting) 1; Extras (nb-3, w-1): 4; Total (for six wkts. in 44.1 overs): 144.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-30, 3-58, 4-78, 5-140, 6-144.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Yomahesh 13-3-40-1, Amarnath 10.1-3-46-2, Abhinav Mukund 1-0-6-0, Ramkumar 15-5-32-3, C. Suresh 5-1-20-0.

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