Manish Pandey played a mature hand under pressure to guide Karnataka to a one-wicket win against Railways in its Ranji Trophy Elite Group C encounter in Surat on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 226, Manish (67 n.o.,121b, 6x4, 1x6) stitched vital partnerships with Srinivas Sharath and V. Vyshak to get Karnataka on track after the opposition bowlers had reduced the team to 99 for six.
The sparse crowd that made its way to the stadium anticipating the close finish cheered for every run as Manish combined with Vidwath Kaverappa and V. Koushik to take the side home.
Akash Pandey‘s 10-wicket match haul took Railways to the cusp of victory but Manish’s composed innings coupled with two misfields in the last over meant that the home team fell agonizingly short.
The Karnataka chase stumbled early when D. Nischal begrudgingly walked back after he was adjudged to have nicked one to the keeper. R. Samarth then blocked one end while K.V. Aneesh looked to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Once the spinners came into play, the run rate dropped, with every shot greeted with ‘oohs and aahs’ by the close-in fielders.
Once Aneesh departed after his attempted cut shot sat up for Vivek Singh at first slip, wickets started trickling, the turn and uneven bounce proving the nemesis for the middle order.
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Manish walked in with the score at 75 for four and played out the initial phase, scoring no boundaries in a 73-ball spell before taking his team to victory with a boundary after a fortuitous edge went through the gap between the wicketkeeper and first slip.
Earlier in the day, Mohammad Saif (82, 156b, 6x4, 3x6) and Ayan Chaudhary resumed the innings for the Railways. Karnataka started with an open field for Saif, targeting the tail-ender at the other end.
The plan came to fruition quite early when Chaudhary nicked his attempted pull shot off Kaverappa, providing a simple catch to Samarth at slip.
Saif continued to bat on at one end, carefully picking up boundaries whenever the chance arrived, while Himanshu Sangwan kept out the last couple of balls every over, getting a tremendous reception from the Railways’ dugout.
Saif went after Vyshak, pulling him for a four and six in the 72nd over before holing out to Kishan Bedare with the team score at 244, which eventually proved to be insufficient.
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