Two titles and four semifinal finishes in nine editions of the Ranji Trophy is a fine record for most sides. But not for Karnataka, a heavyweight outfit that has won the trophy eight times and been runner-up on six other occasions.
Sunday’s defeat in the last-four clash to nemesis Saurashtra capped another underwhelming season. For all the promise it showed earlier in the competition, Karnataka came up short on the face of its first real test.
In the group stages, where it secured a tournament-topping 35 points, and during the quarterfinal victory against Uttarakhand, the Mayank Agarwal-led side seemed unbeatable. Nearly every batter made runs, so much so that K.V. Siddharth, Karnataka’s top-scorer in 2021-22, didn’t get a game.
And for the first time since the retirements of Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S. Aravind, Karnataka appeared to possess the necessary fast-bowling ammunition to drive ahead. The trio of V. Vyshak, Vidwath Kaverappa and V. Koushik accounted for 76 wickets, while off-spinner K. Gowtham added 27 more.
But it was also lucky to avoid many a domestic giant, past and present. The likes of Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra and Hyderabad were all bunched together in another group, and in what is a reflection of the growing standard of cricket around the country – which Karnataka also has to reconcile with – none of these teams made it out of the group stage.
Against Saurashtra at home, the batting trio of R. Samarth, Manish Pandey and Devdutt Padikkal collected just 30 combined runs in six visits to the crease. The pacers seemed spent even on a helpful wicket.
The side badly missed a bowler who could keep the runs down and create pressure. Gowtham was effective only on the fifth day and Shreyas Gopal, the leg-spinner, was anonymous. Fielding, especially catching, left much to be desired.
Mayank Agarwal’s 990 runs, including a brilliant 249 against Saurashtra, after a few below-par seasons, and Nikin Jose’s fine debut campaign in which he scored 547 runs are indeed big positives. But the duo would have definitely traded a few runs for a place in the final.
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