Debutants Krishnan Shrijith and Yashovardhan Parantap’s contrasting knocks helped Karnataka tighten the noose around Uttar Pradesh on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
The visitor assumed a 186-run first-innings lead through three defiant lower-order partnerships before skipper Aryan Juyal and Madhav Kaushik led the host’s fightback.
Shrijith built on his overnight score of 68 with a crisp off-drive in the first over of the day and defended solidly by getting behind the line of the ball. He rode out a short-ball barrage employed by seamers Shivam Mavi and Aaqib Khan even as Shreyas Gopal gloved a pull shot to the wicketkeeper early on.
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Parantap stemmed UP’s hope of nipping the tail in the bud as the 20-year-old exhibited a precocious grit, adding 61 runs with Shrijith for the seventh wicket.
The duo made capital on Mavi and Aaqib’s reluctance to pitch the ball up, even with three slips and a gully in position. With his century on the horizon, Shrijith upped the ante, stepping out and slapping spinner Saurabh Kumar to the cover boundary to reach 90, and then pulling Aaqib to the midwicket fence to move to 95.
He was reprieved on 96 when backup wicketkeeper Aaditya Sharma dropped a catch off Saurabh’s bowling. But there were no further jitters for the 28-year-old, who nonchalantly opened the face of the bat for a single at third-man to complete his maiden ton, off 125 balls, and raised his willow as the Karnataka dugout stood up to applaud.
Shrijith perished at the stroke of lunch, mistiming a pull to square-leg, but his fellow debutant Parantap held firm. He copped a nasty bouncer from Aaqib on the back of his head before notching up a plucky 118-ball half-century to add to UP’s misery.
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