Fortunes fluctuated as Karnataka went from ceding its advantage to clawing back on the third day of its Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ contest against Uttar Pradesh here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Centurions Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal erected a mammoth 246-run stand for the second wicket, blunting Karnataka’s attack and chipping away at the 186-run first-innings deficit with a chanceless display of batsmanship.
Spinners Mohsin Khan and Shreyas Gopal then picked three wickets in the space of 19 runs to give Karnataka a foothold, before Sameer Rizvi and Aaditya Sharma set about shutting the door on the visitor with aggressive strokeplay against the second new ball.
But just as the light was fading, Rizvi gifted his wicket, pulling Mohsin’s long hop to the deep midwicket fielder to raise Karnataka’s hopes of an outright win ahead of the final day.
Earlier, Karnataka’s pacers were ineffective in the first hour, allowing Kaushik and Juyal to come into their own. V. Koushik didn’t attack the stumps enough, Vidyadhar Patil pitched it too short too often, and debutant Yashovardhan Parantap leaked runs with his half-volleys.
The diminutive right-handers Kaushik and Juyal are mirror images of each other, in both frame and technique, but the former was the aggressor initially.
Kaushik drove and cut when the ball was not in the line of the stumps, while Juyal found his bearings with two delectable straight drives that found the boundary off Parantap.
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The duo used their feet well against Mohsin Khan and Shreyas Gopal, who erred in length far too often, and held firm till lunch.
Kaushik uncharacteristically brought out an aerial cut behind point to reach his third First-Class ton, off 186 balls and punched the air to mark the occasion.
Juyal took 230 deliveries to reach his three-figure mark, smashing Gopal and Mohsin for a six each in the process.
But soon after his skipper notched up his ton, Kaushik’s patience eroded as he gave Mohsin the charge only to miscue a slog to the extra-cover fielder.
Gopal’s day-long attempt to bowl from around the wicket to the right-handers to make use of the rough outside leg stump finally reaped dividends when the left-handed Rituraj Sharma got an inside edge to the short-leg fielder.
The leg-spinner’s ploy got another nod of approval when Juyal gloved a sweep to the slip fielder and walked away dejected, seemingly indicating the ball had gone off his forearm.
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