Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal started the Ranji Trophy season with a pair against Punjab last week. On Saturday, Mayank celebrated with gusto after recording a fine century against Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.
The turnaround in fortunes came through an attacking 124-ball 109 - Mayank’s 16th First Class (FC) century. A 172-run opening stand alongside R. Samarth (60, 108b, 7x4) laid the platform for Karnataka to ease past Gujarat’s first-innings total of 264. The visitor ended the day at 328 for five, sitting on a lead of 64 runs.
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Mayank brought the bat down hard on deliveries outside off, peppering the cover and point boundaries.
“It feels good to score a hundred after what happened in the first game. It shows my resilience,” Mayank said.
Mayank’s time at the crease was cut short when he was given caught-behind down the leg. An upset Mayank took his time to return to the pavilion, as the ball appeared to have brushed only the pad.
Samarth earned a reprieve on 29, when he edged left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai to slip. The television umpire, however, spotted that Desai had delivered a no-ball.
Devdutt Padikkal looked fluent in his 42, until he opted to cut a ball from off-spinner R.A. Vaghela which was much too straight.
Manish Pandey, who scored 118 in the Punjab encounter, eased his way to an unbeaten 56. Pandey came alive in the evening session, stepping out to the spinners and blasting them over mid-off and mid-on.
Debutant Sujay Sateri (24 not out) showed extraordinary pluck. Facing just his second delivery at FC level, Sateri ran down the track to fast bowler Chintan Gaja and lofted him over cover. The wicketkeeper-batter remained confident and aggressive, hitting one maximum along the way.
With only four frontline bowlers in the eleven, Gujarat might be forced to concede a massive deficit.
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