Rain, Merai sink K'taka hopes

Bengaluru: The dark clouds that enveloped the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday morning opened up in the afternoon, casting a gloom on the Karnataka dressing room, while Gujarat finished the day on a bright note.

 

On the third day of the Group A, Ranji Trophy contest between the two sides here, the visitors walked away with the honours, seizing a crucial 67-run lead as they piled 373 for 6 before play was called off at 3.15 pm.

 

The match was stopped an hour after lunch due to bad light and the rain ensured that the players did not take to the field.

 

Earlier, Gujarat rode on an maiden unbeaten 121 from Bhargav Merai. The 23-year-old tormented the hosts' experienced pace attack with his patience and fine stroke play which included 19 hits to the fence.

 

Karnataka, who prepared a green top wicket to aid their pace attack, were left searching for answers, knowing the ambitious victory hopes have all but paled, especially against the young Gujarat middle order who batted without a trace of fear or pressure.

 

The home side had their best chance of restricting Gujarat in the morning, but failed to raise their bowling above mediocrity .

 

The overnight pair of Merai and Akshar Patel (48) added 56 runs to their tally before Akshar was bowled by Appanna. That hardly hampered Gujarat's progress as Rakesh Dhruv (42 n.o.) joined Merai in the middle.

 

Karnataka were guilty of having offered two lifelines to Dhruv, after he was first dropped by wicketkeeper C.M. Gautam when he was on 24 and then by substitute fielder R Samarth on 40.

 

With more rain predicted for the final day, Karnataka will in all probability finish with one point from an outing, which offered much promise at the start.

 

SCOREBOARD Karnataka I innings: 306 Gujarat I innings (O/N 216 for 5): Bhargav Merai batting 121, Akshar Patel b KP Appanna 39, Rakesh Dhruv batting 42, Extras 16 (b 9, lb 3, w 1, nb 3). Total (for 6 wkts in 120 overs 373). FoW: 6-272 Bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 17-6-47-1, Abhimanyu Mithun 25-4-82-2, S.

Arvind 21-6-48-0, Stuart Binny 19-759-1, KP Appanna 29-5-96-2, Ganesh Satish 2-0-7-0, Mayank Agarwal 4-28-0, Kunal Kapoor 3-1-14-0.