Karnataka qualify with first innings lead

On Saturday, here at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium Karnataka earned two points by virtue of their first innings lead over Saurashtra, whom they bundled out for 354, taking a first innings’ lead of 216 runs.

The visitors were 249 for 3 in their second essay when the umpires ended the match right after Barrington Rowland reached his century as no result was possible.

With a new coach, former India speedster Venkatesh Prasad, and new captain Yere Goud, Karnataka began the season on a disappointing note, losing their first match against Baroda by seven wickets. But the loss seemed to have infused a fresh blood into the team as they captured two consecutive outright wins in their next two matches. One more outright win with bonus point and two first innings lead cleared the door for a place in the last four.

Opener Robin Uthappa played a crucial role in helping Karnataka make the grade for the knockout stage with 854 runs in seven matches. Wicketkeeper-batsman Tilak Naidu played a crucial part too.

There has been one more performer. Their coach. “The credit should go to Venky. He has brought all the players together. He developed a one-to-one rapport with the players. Worked on their weaknesses. He is very committed to the players,” said Karnataka’s manager and former India spinner Raghuram Bhat.

“Venky has done tremendously for the team. He brought the players out of their comfort zone and pushed all of them hard for training. All these augur well for the team. Hope we will go all the way. But for now, we are looking forward to the semi-final,” said team skipper Yere Goud.

Brief scores: Karnataka 570 (Y Goud 171n.o, R Uthappa 108, C Raghu 83, Dravid 56; K Makwana 3/192, S Maniyar 2/114) & 249/3 (R Barrington 100n.o, C Raghu 66) vs Saurashtra 354 (K Vaghela 101, S Jogiyani 80, C Pujara 62; R Bhatkal 3/53, B Akhil 2/62, V Kumar 2/100).