An entertaining unbeaten 102 by Manish Pandey took Karnataka to a comfortable position against Chandigarh on the second day of their Ranji Trophy outing here on Saturday.
Pandey’s 25th First Class century powered Karnataka to 268 for three, one run ahead of Chandigarh’s first-innings total.
With three points in the bag, Karnataka is assured of a spot in the quarterfinal, provided the home team does not fall to a loss.
Pandey came alive in the final session, thrilling the small crowd with brilliant strokes. He punched length deliveries through extra cover and mid off, and pulled long hops over deep square leg. The 34-year-old walked down the track to throw the pacers off-kilter. Pandey was unstoppable once he got his eye in, moving from 50 to 100 in just 24 deliveries.
Pandey found an able ally in Hardik Raj (49 batting, 116b, 4x4). Hardik batted with gumption for over three hours, showing all the right qualities to thrive in this long format. It was a day to remember for the 17-year-old, who also scalped four wickets with his left-arm spin in the Chandigarh essay.
Mayank Agarwal’s good run continued with a 90-ball 57. The skipper looked good for more, but an inside edge to left-arm spinner Karan Kaila cut him short.
Nikin Jose, not in the best form this season, worked hard in his 60-ball 37. An unnecessary jab outside off, however, robbed Jose of a big score.
There was no silver lining for opener R. Samarth, nicked off by pacer Jagjit Sandhu for four.
Chandigarh batted for 27.4 overs in the morning session to end with a respectable total. Hardik (four for 56) prised out wickets with a combination of flighted deliveries and arm balls, while fast bowler V. Vyshak (four for 77) was typically fiery.
The scores:
Chandigarh – 1st innings: Shivam Bhambri c Jose b Koushik 0, Arslan Khan c Sharath b Vyshak 8, Manan Vohra b Venkatesh 21, Karan Kaila lbw b Vyshak 79, Kunal Mahajan b Hardik 34, A.K. Kaushik c Sharath b Hardik 25, Mayank Sidhu lbw b Vyshak 31, Gurinder Singh b Vyshak 16, Jagjit Sandhu b Hardik 25, Hartejassvi Kapoor lbw b Hardik 10, Rohit Dhanda (not out) 5, Extras (lb-12, w-1): 13; Total (in 106.4 overs): 267.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-8, 3-37, 4-108, 5-154, 6-200, 7-226, 8-227, 9-258.
Karnataka bowling: Koushik 19-8-38-1, Vyshak 23-3-77-4, Venkatesh 17-2-48-1, Hardik 30.4-10-56-4, Shashikumar 16-2-35-0, Samarth 1-0-1-0.
Karnataka – 1st innings: R. Samarth c Sidhu b Sandhu 4, Mayank Agarwal b Kaila 57, Nikin Jose c Sidhu b Kapoor 37, Hardik Raj (batting) 49, Manish Pandey (batting) 102; Extras (b-7; lb-7, penalty-5): 19; Total (for three wickets in 63 overs): 268.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-78, 3-115.
Chandigarh bowling: Sandhu 11-2-34-1, Dhanda 15-1-68-0, Gurinder 7-1-26-0, Hartejassvi 10-2-43-1, Kaila 18-1-64-1, Mahajan 1-0-12-0, Bhambri 1-0-2-0.
