Karnataka pile up big lead to put Delhi on the mat

Ishant Sharma & Co largely ineffective on Day Two ELSEWHERE

KOLKATA: Karnataka batted the entire second day to score an imposing 414 and take a first innings lead of 324 runs against Delhi in their Ranji Trophy group league match on Friday.

Resuming on their overnight score of 131/3, Karnataka produced a collective effort that saw captain Karun Nair, Kaunain Abbas and CM Gautam score fifties to virtually put the game out of Delhi’s reach. Delhi now have two days to bat out and save the game.

Night-watchman Abhimanyu Mithun was caught behind early in the day but Karnataka motored on thanks to an 89-run partnership between Nair and Abbas.

That, and a 77-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Gautam and Shreyas Gopal ensured Delhi were virtually batted out of the game.

Nair set the tempo well when he hit Pawan Suyal for a six over third man earlier in the day but his promising innings was cut short by an excellent reaction catch by left-arm spinner Varun Sood off his own bowling.

Abbas carried on the good work he has been doing this season, bringing up his second successive fifty in only his maiden first-class season. Together with Stuart Binny, Abbas ensured Karnataka weren’t troubled much.

Abbas however was trapped leg-before just before lunch. Binny was solid in a 77-ball 32 but he was caught and bowled by Vikas Tokas with a delivery that stopped on him.

By then, Karnataka’s innings found another support in the form of Gautam who stayed unbeaten on 63, hitting nine boundaries.

Delhi’s bowlers weren’t exactly sent on a leather hunt but Karnataka’s plan to bat the whole day meant they had to toil hard for every wicket. Sood was rewarded for his line and length but overall, it was a listless day for Delhi’s bowlers. Lahli: Gujarat 187 & 295/3 in 75 overs(P Panchal 101, B Merai

70, M Juneja 59*) v Railways 124 all out for 43.5 26 overs (K Sharma 48; M Patel 5/35). Mumbai: J&K 334 all out in 153 overs (S Khajuria 90, P Rasool 45, Bandeep Singh 63, Ram Dayal 42; Siva Kumar 4/49, B Bhatt 4/122) v Andhra 72/2 in 24 overs (K S Bharat 31).. Kalyani: Tripura 549 allout in 162.2 overs (Smit Patel 111, M Murasingh 84; Mayank Dagar 5/138) v Himachal Pradesh were 50/1.

Raipur: Madhya Pradesh 445 all out in 160 overs (S Sharma 83; V Gohil 3/87) v Mumbai 38/2 in 18 overs.

Cuttack: Goa 606/6 decl in 165 overs (S Kamat 304*, S Jakati 57*) v Services 39/1 in 13 overs.

Dharamsala: Uttar Pradesh 524 all out in 158 overs (Samarth Singh 187; T Natarajan 4/83) v Tamil Nadu 34/1 in 15 overs. Bilaspur: Bengal 404 all out in 120.3 overs (S Mondal 135, A Pan 70; S Sharma 4/96) v

Punjab 168/4 in 51 overs (U

Kaul 73 n.o; A Kuila 3/44) Guwahati: Haryana 178 & 121/3 in 34 overs (H Rana 50*, R Sharma 34*; P Rao 3/29) v Chattisgarh 189 all out in 78.2 overs (S Gupta 78; J Sharma 5/32, H Patel 4/40)

Baroda: Jharkhand 209 & 73/2 in 18 overs (P Singh 33*) v Rajasthan 207 all out in 83.2 overs (M Singh 50, V Saxena 50; S Nadeem 7/74, S Gupta 2/74)