New Delhi: In conditions ideal for swing bowling, Railways and
Karnataka's medium-pacers reaped rewards on the second day of their
round three of the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy encounter at the Karnail Singh
Stadium on Monday. KK Upadhyay and Stuart Binny played
crucial roles for their respective sides, troubling the opposition
batsmen with their nagging line. Upadhyay finished with 7/98 and helped
Railways dismiss Karnataka for 247 after which Binny's economical spell
of 2/18 restricted Railways to 106/4, trailing by 141 runs.
After the first session was lost to fog, the Karnataka lower-order added 40 runs to their overnight score of 207. All three wickets fell to Upadhyay, who finished with 7/88, his second-best career figures. Shreyas Gopal and CM Gautam, the unbeaten batsmen on the opening day shared a 52-run stand for the eighth wicket and looked good from the outset with some crisp cover drives off both Upadhyay and Anureet Singh.
Gautam, in particular, seemed to time the ball exquisitely. He cracked back-to-back fours off Upadhyay in the 71st over and brought up his fifty. From his overnight score of 34, he raced to 50 courtesy four boundaries as runs came thick and fast for the touring side. Gopal, at the other end, looked stubborn not to get out. He was beaten on numerous occasions but did the right thing of not edging the ball. He middled the ball just once on the second day, and got a well deserved boundary.
Upadhyay gave Railways their first breakthrough of the day, inducing a thin edge off the bat of Gopal for a regulation caught behind. Abhimanyu Mithun joined Gautam in the middle and was greeted with a snorter of a delivery, that jumped and did his finger some damage. He was attended by the medical staff and the gap between overs seemed to hamper Gautam's concentration at the other end, who, in order to tap the ball down the leg side, found the leading edge and was out caught at mid-off. Upadhyay, off the very next ball, cleaned up No 11 batsman Sreenath Arvind to wrap things up.
In reply, Railways' decision to replace Asad Pathan with former Maharasthra player Rohan Bhosale didn't pay dividends. He was their first wicket to fall, when he nicked a ball from Mithun that took off. Abhishek Kaushik, at the other end, went smoothly about his business and was watchful against the new ball, which troubled him occasionally. He was alert and punished anything loose offered to him. He cracked three consecutive fours off Mithun and rattled the fielding side.
Uthappa and Kaushik got in to a heated argument, for which the umpires had to play pacifiers to calm things down. Kaushik replied with a flick towards the right of Uthappa, which saw the ball win the race. He and Bhille ensured there was no further danger and guided Railways to 63/1 at tea. The Bhille-Kaushik partnership looked deadly and although Kaushik much of the scoring, his partner did his job of holding the other end well. But in the final session the hosts went on to lose three wickets for just 29 runs.
Binny struck first ball after tea when Bhille (10), while coming forward, nicked a straight ball to Gautam behind the stumps. Binny then added the wicket of Arindam Ghosh (1) in the 22nd over and allowed Karnataka to get back in the game. Kaushik, at the other end, was constantly jeered at by the Karnataka fielders and was at the receiving end of a lot of chirping every time he faced a ball. But most importantly, he was able to preserve his wicket.
Anustoop Mazumdar and Kaushik took the Railways innings forward to end the day at 106/4. Left-hander Kaushik reached his half-century off 84 balls, courtesy a half-hearted pull shot towards the fine leg-boundary. Kaushik's aggression forced Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar to think out of the box as h handed the ball to part-timer Manish Pandey. The move proved right as Pandey trapped Kaushik lbw off the fifth ball, dealing Railways a heavy blow right towards the end of the day.
Brief Scores: Railways 106/4 (Abhishek Kaushik 59, Anustoop Majumdar 25; Stuart Binny 2/18) trailing Karnataka 247 (CM Gautam 63; KK Upadhyay 7/98) by 141 runs.
After the first session was lost to fog, the Karnataka lower-order added 40 runs to their overnight score of 207. All three wickets fell to Upadhyay, who finished with 7/88, his second-best career figures. Shreyas Gopal and CM Gautam, the unbeaten batsmen on the opening day shared a 52-run stand for the eighth wicket and looked good from the outset with some crisp cover drives off both Upadhyay and Anureet Singh.
Gautam, in particular, seemed to time the ball exquisitely. He cracked back-to-back fours off Upadhyay in the 71st over and brought up his fifty. From his overnight score of 34, he raced to 50 courtesy four boundaries as runs came thick and fast for the touring side. Gopal, at the other end, looked stubborn not to get out. He was beaten on numerous occasions but did the right thing of not edging the ball. He middled the ball just once on the second day, and got a well deserved boundary.
Upadhyay gave Railways their first breakthrough of the day, inducing a thin edge off the bat of Gopal for a regulation caught behind. Abhimanyu Mithun joined Gautam in the middle and was greeted with a snorter of a delivery, that jumped and did his finger some damage. He was attended by the medical staff and the gap between overs seemed to hamper Gautam's concentration at the other end, who, in order to tap the ball down the leg side, found the leading edge and was out caught at mid-off. Upadhyay, off the very next ball, cleaned up No 11 batsman Sreenath Arvind to wrap things up.
In reply, Railways' decision to replace Asad Pathan with former Maharasthra player Rohan Bhosale didn't pay dividends. He was their first wicket to fall, when he nicked a ball from Mithun that took off. Abhishek Kaushik, at the other end, went smoothly about his business and was watchful against the new ball, which troubled him occasionally. He was alert and punished anything loose offered to him. He cracked three consecutive fours off Mithun and rattled the fielding side.
Uthappa and Kaushik got in to a heated argument, for which the umpires had to play pacifiers to calm things down. Kaushik replied with a flick towards the right of Uthappa, which saw the ball win the race. He and Bhille ensured there was no further danger and guided Railways to 63/1 at tea. The Bhille-Kaushik partnership looked deadly and although Kaushik much of the scoring, his partner did his job of holding the other end well. But in the final session the hosts went on to lose three wickets for just 29 runs.
Binny struck first ball after tea when Bhille (10), while coming forward, nicked a straight ball to Gautam behind the stumps. Binny then added the wicket of Arindam Ghosh (1) in the 22nd over and allowed Karnataka to get back in the game. Kaushik, at the other end, was constantly jeered at by the Karnataka fielders and was at the receiving end of a lot of chirping every time he faced a ball. But most importantly, he was able to preserve his wicket.
Anustoop Mazumdar and Kaushik took the Railways innings forward to end the day at 106/4. Left-hander Kaushik reached his half-century off 84 balls, courtesy a half-hearted pull shot towards the fine leg-boundary. Kaushik's aggression forced Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar to think out of the box as h handed the ball to part-timer Manish Pandey. The move proved right as Pandey trapped Kaushik lbw off the fifth ball, dealing Railways a heavy blow right towards the end of the day.
Brief Scores: Railways 106/4 (Abhishek Kaushik 59, Anustoop Majumdar 25; Stuart Binny 2/18) trailing Karnataka 247 (CM Gautam 63; KK Upadhyay 7/98) by 141 runs.
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