The obduracy of Sudip Kumar Gharami (right) and the enterprise of Wriddhiman Saha helped Bengal assert their dominance on the final day of their Ranji Trophy fixture at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.
Credit: DH Photo/ S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: Karnataka were hoping for a desperate twist in the tale and Vidyadhar Patil appeared to provide one in the first hour of the morning session. Bengal, sitting pretty on 127/3 in their second innings for an overall lead of 207, slid to 160/5 when the young pacer picked up two in a short time. At this moment, Karnataka would have hoped for a comeback that seemed improbable at the start of final day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C clash.
As the sun got sharper, however, Karnataka’s hopes got duller with the obduracy of Sudip Kumar Gharami (101 n.o., 193b, 13x4, 1x6) and the enterprise of Wriddhiman Saha (63, 70b, 7x4, 1x6) dictating the course of majority of day’s play. The two quick wickets forced Bengal to shelve any plans of going for a win and the visitors seemed content with three points by virtue of their first innings lead while Karnataka just went through the motions here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.
Having ensured safety, Bengal declared their second innings closed at 283/5 in 81.4 overs, setting Karnataka a target of 364 in a maximum of 50 overs. They got rid of skipper Mayank Agarwal in the second over and sent back Kishan Bedare in the sixth over, leaving the home change room anxious which was obvious when they promoted Shreyas Gopal in a bid to avoid further damage. To his credit, Shreyas did a neat job of it in the company of R Smaran (37 n.o.) en route to a 54-run stand. More importantly, the duo consumed 80 balls.
That their pace spearhead Ishan Porel limped off the field in his third over, in addition to the absence of Rishabh Vivek who was forced off the field with a possible side strain on Friday, didn’t help Bengal’s cause. With just one specialist quick, Bengal couldn’t apply the pressure on home batters on a pitch where spin didn’t have much role.
Manish Pandey (30) then made amends to his first-innings’ indiscretion with a measured innings before players shook hands to signal the draw. Karnataka, who now have nine points, are now placed fourth behind Haryana (19), Kerala (14) and Madhya Pradesh (9). MP are third because of a superior run quotient (1.158) to Karnataka’s (0.999)
Karnataka next take on Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow and anything less than a win in that match is only going to make their qualification to knockouts harder than it looks now, a reality not lost on skipper Agarwal.
“Very honestly, the first two games were just rained out, washed out. We haven’t had an opportunity to play a full game there,” said the skipper while reflecting on the campaign so far. “We’ve played one game against Bihar, we’ve got maximum points. And we just lost an innings lead in one game here. That’s how I look at it. Yes, the points table doesn’t make for a great reading. But we still have three games to go. We go there and really put in the kind of effort we want to. We can really get maximum points and then take the game forward from there.”