Karnataka and Kerala players wait ahead of their Ranji Trophy match at Alur Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V
Bengaluru: For the second day in a row, rain was an irksome but unavoidable guest in the Ranji Trophy contest between Kerala and Karnataka at the Alur Grounds here.
If the opening day yielded 23 overs in which Kerala were able to muster 88 runs without the loss of a wicket, the second day coughed up a marginally-better 27 overs.
It was a better day for Karnataka, though, as they managed to pick up three wickets in the opening session, and that happened to be the only session for the day.
As the players went into the lunch break accompanied by a powder drizzle, Kerala were on 161 for 3 from 50 overs with stalwarts Sachin Baby and Sanju Samson getting their gears greased. But that drizzle picked up intensity during the course of the next couple of hours, relenting only at around 2 pm.
The umpires in charge went in for an inspection at around 3.30 pm, post work from the super-soppers, and decided they would not have enough time to get the ground ready in time to get meaningful play time.
As for the non-rain-related action, V Koushik, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Shreyas Gopal were able to pick up one wicket each. They were about as disciplined as they had been the day before to manage and distil this situation.
As for Kerala, their batters were a bit nervy what with the weather being overcast, but Samson looked in fine nick in the brief stay, getting to 15 from 13 balls, including a massive six.