Published: Dec 14, 2013, 06:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 14, 2013, 11:44 PM (IST)
Bangalore: Dec 14, 2013
Karnataka skittled out Punjab cheaply for 174 runs in their first innings and then reached 59 for two at stumps on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match at KSCA Stadium.
Sent into bat, Punjab had no answers to combat the skills of Karnataka’s medium pacer Stuart Binny (3/62) and left-arm orthodox spinner KP Appanna (3/29).
After the visitors had lost in-form opener Jiwanjot Singh for five, his opening partner Manan Vohra made a useful 69 in Uday Kaul’s company, who made 29 and stitched a crucial partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket.
Punjab, whose batting looked bullish in their last game against Vidarbha, folded up in 54.5 overs at the same venue where Chetsehwar Pujara and Gautam Gambhir had cracked a triple ton and a century for India A against West Indies A a few months back.
Apart from Vohra and Kaul, captain Mandeep Singh was the only batsman to reach the double-digit score of an unbeaten 32, which came in 133 minutes.
Punjab’s innings went awry when they lost last six wickets for just 33 runs.
Appanna and Binny packed off half of the team, with just 141 on board, the other wickets being claimed by captain Vinay Kumar, H S Sharath and Abhimanyu Mithin, who were right on their money scalping one wicket each.
In reply, Karnataka failed to capitalise on the good work done by their bowlers as they lost two wickets, with 40 runs on the board.
Pacer Manpreet Goni did the damage by sending openers — Mayank Agarwal (17) and Satish Ganesh (5) — packing to the pavillion.
When the umpires called for stumps, Karnataka were 59 for two, with Rahul and Manish Pandey batting on 22 and 13, respectively.
Brief scores:
Punjab 174 (Manan Vohra 69; KP Appanna 3 for 29) lead Karnataka 59 for 2 (KL Rahul 22; MS Gony 2/20) by 115 runs.
