Karnataka face Delhi at the Eden Gardens between the 20th and the 23rd of October. Delhi's bowlers might be the most overworked unit of all teams so far. They bowled close to 170 overs in the win over Assam and then toiled for 170 overs in Mumbai against THAT PARTNERSHIP between Gugale and Bawne.
The Venue: Eden Gardens played host to the 2nd test match between India and New Zealand - A match that completed within 4 days. Kerala took on Himachal Pradesh in round 1 at the same venue. This match ended within 3 days - a small sized pattern which still suggested that the pitch had something for the bowlers. Both the matches mentioned did not have a single centurion.
Karun Nair, captaining the squad for the first time, won the toss and elected to bowl first. With Vinay not yet fully recovered from the calf strain sustained during the previous match, Aravind came into the squad as a like-for-like replacement.
Day 1: Disciplined bowling helped Karnataka dismiss the Delhi squad inside 1 session, suggesting this match will be anything but a run feast. Aravind was the star in the first innings.
Aravind bowled a total of 66 deliveries throughout the innings and to pretty much most batsmen through the order. Close to 92 % of the deliveries were dot balls. Thats pretty stingy bowling. The 5 run scoring deliveries resulted in 3 singles and 2 boundaries - In a 11 over spell !!!!!
Rishab Pant, the man who had scored close to 450 runs in the 2 previous matches combined was clearly the dangerman in the attack. He got good fortune early on in his innings - 2 catches dropped at slips by Mayank Agarwal and K Gowtham. Pant tried to stay aggressive like he did in the first 2 matches. The field placement was also aggressive - 3 slips for the spinner Gowtham (offspinner against lefties - the tried and tested technique). Gowtham won the war, getting Pant to cut a ball and going too hard at the ball resulting in an edge and a catch to Samarth.
Karnataka set out on a mission to bat once but try to make this a good enough target to get a victory in the match. The openers put on a 87 run start. Towards the end of day however, Karnataka had lost their top 3 with the score reading 134. Mithun came in to protect Binny and Gautham and, together with Nair, played out the day.
Day 2: Steady contributions throughout the batting order helped Karnataka build a score of 414 in their first innings. What was noteworthy was the inability of the batsmen to kick on after scoring a 50. 6 batsmen scored in excess of 45. 5 of them scored a half century but 4 out of the 5 were dismissed for scores between 50 and 55. Kaunain Abbas followed up his 2 half centuries in game 1 with another steady 52. Nair, who also scored 2 half centuries in game 1, made 53, scoring big runs in the off-side. When Aravind was dismissed in the last over of the day, Karnataka had build a lead of 324. The ability of their bowling unit in the first innings would have given confidence to Karnataka to try to go for the kill (read as bonus point) in the second innings.
Day 3: The pattern of play on day 3 was similar to that on day 1. If Delhi folded within a session on day 1, their batsmen did not do much on day 3. After lasting 36 overs in the first innings, Delhi just about managed to survive the first session on day 1, losing 7 wickets in the process. They tried an aggressive approach, especially against the spinners. Unfortunately, it did not come off. Gowtham took his first 5-wicket haul in first class cricket. The Delhi fight folded shortly after, coming at at the end of 43 overs. The victory vaulted Karnataka from 7th to 2nd in the table. The bonus point helped.
The dangerman for Delhi - Rishab Pant was relatively quiet. He started aggressively in both innings but departed try to get after the bowlers. He is still at the top of the scoring charts after round 3.
Key takeaways from the match
- Samarth has started the season well, just like the last season.
- Aravind has stepped in very well in place of the injured Vinay Kumar. Its a good headache for the selectors.
- Karun Nair and Kaunain Abbas have held the middle order in good shape so far. A deeper look at the numbers suggest that they have not entirely cashed in on the starts, considering how difficult it is to get to a 50. Looking around the league at the number of 200+ scores, there is reason to believe more conversions of 50+ scores to 100s are needed. Karun Nair scored a triple century the last time Karnataka played in Mumbai :)
Next Up: The revenge match against Assam in a match that will be played in Mumbai. Revenge for the crucial points lost in last season's opener against the same opposition.
The Venue: Eden Gardens played host to the 2nd test match between India and New Zealand - A match that completed within 4 days. Kerala took on Himachal Pradesh in round 1 at the same venue. This match ended within 3 days - a small sized pattern which still suggested that the pitch had something for the bowlers. Both the matches mentioned did not have a single centurion.
Karun Nair, captaining the squad for the first time, won the toss and elected to bowl first. With Vinay not yet fully recovered from the calf strain sustained during the previous match, Aravind came into the squad as a like-for-like replacement.
Day 1: Disciplined bowling helped Karnataka dismiss the Delhi squad inside 1 session, suggesting this match will be anything but a run feast. Aravind was the star in the first innings.
Aravind bowled a total of 66 deliveries throughout the innings and to pretty much most batsmen through the order. Close to 92 % of the deliveries were dot balls. Thats pretty stingy bowling. The 5 run scoring deliveries resulted in 3 singles and 2 boundaries - In a 11 over spell !!!!!
Rishab Pant, the man who had scored close to 450 runs in the 2 previous matches combined was clearly the dangerman in the attack. He got good fortune early on in his innings - 2 catches dropped at slips by Mayank Agarwal and K Gowtham. Pant tried to stay aggressive like he did in the first 2 matches. The field placement was also aggressive - 3 slips for the spinner Gowtham (offspinner against lefties - the tried and tested technique). Gowtham won the war, getting Pant to cut a ball and going too hard at the ball resulting in an edge and a catch to Samarth.
Karnataka set out on a mission to bat once but try to make this a good enough target to get a victory in the match. The openers put on a 87 run start. Towards the end of day however, Karnataka had lost their top 3 with the score reading 134. Mithun came in to protect Binny and Gautham and, together with Nair, played out the day.
Day 2: Steady contributions throughout the batting order helped Karnataka build a score of 414 in their first innings. What was noteworthy was the inability of the batsmen to kick on after scoring a 50. 6 batsmen scored in excess of 45. 5 of them scored a half century but 4 out of the 5 were dismissed for scores between 50 and 55. Kaunain Abbas followed up his 2 half centuries in game 1 with another steady 52. Nair, who also scored 2 half centuries in game 1, made 53, scoring big runs in the off-side. When Aravind was dismissed in the last over of the day, Karnataka had build a lead of 324. The ability of their bowling unit in the first innings would have given confidence to Karnataka to try to go for the kill (read as bonus point) in the second innings.
Day 3: The pattern of play on day 3 was similar to that on day 1. If Delhi folded within a session on day 1, their batsmen did not do much on day 3. After lasting 36 overs in the first innings, Delhi just about managed to survive the first session on day 1, losing 7 wickets in the process. They tried an aggressive approach, especially against the spinners. Unfortunately, it did not come off. Gowtham took his first 5-wicket haul in first class cricket. The Delhi fight folded shortly after, coming at at the end of 43 overs. The victory vaulted Karnataka from 7th to 2nd in the table. The bonus point helped.
The dangerman for Delhi - Rishab Pant was relatively quiet. He started aggressively in both innings but departed try to get after the bowlers. He is still at the top of the scoring charts after round 3.
Key takeaways from the match
- Samarth has started the season well, just like the last season.
- Aravind has stepped in very well in place of the injured Vinay Kumar. Its a good headache for the selectors.
- Karun Nair and Kaunain Abbas have held the middle order in good shape so far. A deeper look at the numbers suggest that they have not entirely cashed in on the starts, considering how difficult it is to get to a 50. Looking around the league at the number of 200+ scores, there is reason to believe more conversions of 50+ scores to 100s are needed. Karun Nair scored a triple century the last time Karnataka played in Mumbai :)
Next Up: The revenge match against Assam in a match that will be played in Mumbai. Revenge for the crucial points lost in last season's opener against the same opposition.
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