Published: Dec 16, 2018, 07:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 16, 2018, 07:43 PM (IST)
Rujul Bhatt was batting on 82, while Manprit Juneja was not out on 21 in their second innings as Gujarat ended their penultimate day of Round 6 of their Ranji Trophy 2018-19 Elite A match against Karnataka at 187/3, with a lead of 14 runs on Sunday.
Having bowled Karnataka for 389, thereby conceding a first-innings lead in response to their 216, Gujarat were once again on the backfoot losing both their openers – Kathan Patel and captain Priyank Panchal – inside the first two overs.
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Patel was trapped leg before by Prateek Jain, while Panchal, who scored 74 in the first dig, added just 3 after he was sent back to the pavilion by Krishnappa Gowtham.
Bhargav Merai and Bhatt then steadied the innings with a 134-run partnership for the third wicket. Merai, who had scored four in the first innings, brought up his 14th first-class half-century and went on to score 74 before the partnership was broken when he edged it behind to S Sharath off Ronit More. Merai carted eight boundaries during his 130-ball knock.
Bhatt was joined by Juneja as the duo ensured no further alarms were caused as they batted till stumps unbeaten in a 47-run partnership.
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Earlier, resuming their overnight score at 348/7, Sharath missed out on his half-century by three runs after he was caught by Axar Patel off Piyush Chawla. More was then cleaned up by Axar, who picked up his third wicket. Chawla then wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar, who departed after scoring a well-played 55 off 99, his innings studded with five boundaries and one six.
For Gujarat, Chawla was the pick of the bowlers with four for 99 in his 30 overs, while Axar and pacer Arzan Nagaswalla took three wickets each.
Brief scores: Gujarat 216 & 187/3 (Rujul Bhatt 82*, Bhargav Merai 74) lead Karnataka 389 (Shreyas Gopal 93, Vinay Kumar 51; Piyush Chawla 4/99) by 14 runs
