Skipper Manish Pandey (156, 121b, 12x4, 10x6) and K.V. Siddharth (140*, 221b, 17x4, 2x6) powered Karnataka to 392 for five against Railways at the end of the first day of its Elite Group C Ranji Trophy here at the IC Guru Nanak College grounds on Thursday.
Asked to bat first, Karnataka made good use of ideal batting conditions as their experienced batting line-up feasted on some ordinary bowling.
Pandey, who walked in after the fall of the third wicket just after lunch, wasted no time in relaying his intentions as he hit the second ball he faced off left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav for a six over long-on.
He was supported by Siddharth at the other end who played a measured knock without many risks as they added 267 runs for the fourth wicket off just 283 balls. Along with R. Samarth, Siddharth rebuilt the innings after the openers were dismissed.
After Samarth was dismissed for a well-made 47 caught at slip by Avinash, Pandey changed the tempo of the innings with his counter-attack and raced to 34 off just 19 balls.
Both Pandey and Siddharth were fed a lot of short balls by the spinners Avinash and Karn Sharma and they played the pulls, sweeps and cuts to keep finding boundaries.
Both batters got to their centuries in style with Siddharth lofting Avinash while Pandey lofted Mishra for sixes.
Speaking after the day’s play, Pandey said, “this is a small ground and I just wanted to get some quick runs to start with and build upon that momentum.”
READ: AS IT HAPPENED
“As a team, we are looking to bat only once, score as many runs as possible and give the bowlers a chance in the end,” he added.
Earlier, India opener Agarwal could not get a big one after he was run out by a brilliant direct hit from Mrunal Devdhar at gully. Pacer Yuvraj Singh had struck Agarwal on his pads and as the batter wandered out looking at the umpire for a leg-before appeal, the ball lobbed to Devdhar who took an opportunistic throw at the stumps.
Yuvraj was the best bowler for Railways extracting bounce from a good length and asking questions of the batters but lacked support from his teammates.
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