Ranji Trophy: Bowlers put Karnataka in control against Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tamil Nadu might bat deep, but Karnataka bowl hard. 

With this dynamic setting the stage, an engrossing second day unfolded at the MA Chidambaram stadium as the rivals swayed to the ebb and flow of Ranji Trophy cricket. 

All these layered passages culminated in Karnataka establishing a convincing advantage in their sixth-round Group C tie. Mayank Agarwal’s men lead by 237 runs with a couple of days left in the contest. 

This performance is of the most well-rounded show this side in transition has had in a while, but there is enough time and buffer for complacency, which - as this season has shown - has been their biggest concern.  

As far as Saturday goes though, they couldn’t have been more zoned in. 

Firstly, they managed to build on their overnight score of 288 for 5 to get to 366 all out in 119.4 overs. Secondly, their bowlers reduced Tamil Nadu to 129 for 7 in 56 overs at stumps. 

There were plenty of lapses as a fielding unit, but that can be glossed over for the time being because everything else fell into place rather unexpectedly. 

Karnataka’s batting unit has relied on one or two contributions for far too much, and their bowling unit has not dared lean on their spinners. 

Sure, this is mostly because success among some batters and excellence from the pacers has mollified most of the concerns - even going so far as putting them second on the table with 21 points - but it was worrying nevertheless.

That trend took the backseat for a day, and it was good enough to inspire confidence. 

After Devdutt Padikkal got out without adding a run to his overnight score of 151, the possibility of a spiral was on the horizon. 

But Hardik Raj, the season's debutant injected into the side to offer his services as a left-arm spinner, came up with a knock which surely raised his stocks for the future. 

It wasn’t so much that he put together 51 runs or that it came at a healthy strike rate, this was about how composed he was despite R Sai Kishore (3/102) and Ajith Ram S (4/75) bowling as stringently. And then there was Sharath Srinivasan playing out a 45-run cameo of some significance.

The 78 runs added to the overnight tally might not seem like much, but at the rate at which this pitch is deteriorating, that’s plenty enough. Tamil Nadu were first-hand witness to this phenomenon. 

Hardik (2/47) opened the bowling owing to conditions, and right away, he had turn and awkward bounce. The seamers for this game - Vyshak Vijaykumar and Vidwath Kaverappa - didn’t get much purchase but they made up for that disadvantage by keeping it in the channel. 

Even off-spinner Shashi Kumar (3/41), possibly borrowing from the confidence of the others, played his role without excuses. He was a tad short from time to time, but by the time he came on, Tamil Nadu players were too tentative to go after him.

As a result, he ended up with three wickets, two - N Jagadeesan and Pradosh Ranjan Paul - of which essentially instigated the wilting of Tamil Nadu.

Then again this was a pitch for spinners, orchestrated as such by the hosts, and so credit must go to Kaverappa and Vijaykumar for going at less than two runs an over for the duration of their spells. 

We’re mostly desensitised to their brilliance because of the frequency of their expression, but we can’t ignore the fact that Karnataka have remained relevant this season mostly because of them. The rest then have the luxury to play their roles and nothing more. That’s what happened on Saturday too.