Ground staff at Alur 1 ground try to dry a wet patch that delayed the start of the Ranji Trophy game between Karnataka and Kerala.
Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V
Bengaluru: Kerala openers Vathsal Govind and Rohan Kunnummal made a roaring start in little play that was possible on a truncated opening day, sending out a strong message to Karnataka here on Friday.
Kunnummal smashed a 74-ball 57 not out and Govind hit a 64-ball 31 as Kerala reached 88 for loss in 23 overs at stumps on Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C encounter at Alur 1 grounds on the outskirts of the city.
As feared by Karnataka coach Yere Goud on the eve of the game, the fixture couldn’t start on time owning to a wet outfield. Goud had mentioned to DH that there were a few wet patches on the outfield and although ground staff had been working overtime to dry them, natural sunlight was needed to hasten the process.
During their first inspection at the start of the day, umpires Navdeep Singh and Ulhas Gandhe found the wet patches unsafe for play. Ground staff tried various methods to dry them but no play was possible in the opening session.
The second session too was lost but the five hours of sunlight finally saw the toss take place at 3:10 pm. Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal won it and had no hesitation in asking Kerala to take first strike, hoping his pacers will be able to extract maximum purchase from a surface that had been under wraps for the better part of this week owing to heavy rainfall that lashed the city and its outskirts.
Sadly for Agarwal, the seasoned duo of V Koushik and Vyshak V and newbie Vidyadhar Patil could not make any inroads into the Kerala side. They didn’t bowl particularly bad, often employing the full-length strategy, constantly asking Govind and Kunnummal tough questions.
But Govind and Kunnummal were up for the challenge, mixing caution with aggression to a nicety to thwart all of Karnataka’s efforts.
SCORE BOARD KERALA (I Innings): Vathsal Govind (batting) 31 (64b 4x4) Rohan Kunnummal (batting) 57 (74b 9x4 1x6). TOTAL (for no loss 23 overs) 88. Bowling: V Koushik 9-4-23-0 Vidyadhar Patil 7-0-27-0 Vyshak V 5-0-25-0 Hardik Raj 2-0-13-0. Other Elite Group C brief scores: At Kolkata: No play on Day 1. At Lucknow: Haryana: 242/6 in 90 overs (Ankit Kumar 77 Himanshu Rana 114 Dheeru Singh 25; Shivam Sharma 3-46) vs Uttar Pradesh. At Mullanpur: Punjab: 254/7 in 90 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 25 Krish Bhagat 27 Salil Arora 101 Sukhwinder Singh 64 n.o.; Kumar kartikeya 2-43) vs Madhya Pradesh.