SHIVAMOGGA: Karun Nair left Karnataka for Vidarbha on a bitter note two seasons ago. At Vidarbha, he regained form and confidence, scored heavily and earned an Indian Test recall.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Returning home this season, Karun, for the second time in as many matches, rescued the former champions. Against Goa in their Ranji Trophy fixture at the KSCA Navule Stadium here on Saturday, the 33-year-old hit a classy unbeaten 86 (138b; 7×4; 1×6), helping Karnataka reach 222/5 in 69 overs on a rain-hit opening day.
Demonstrating classic strokeplay and timing, he anchored Karnataka’s innings and built two key partnerships. With Abhinav Manohar (37), who replaced Devdutt Padikkal, he added 63, and with Shreyas Gopal (48n.o.), an unbeaten 94-run stand ensured a wicketless last session.Goa skipper Snehal Kauthankar won the toss and signaled that they would bowl on a surface with a healthy grass cover. The call was right and the new-ball pair of Arjun Tendulkar (3/47) and V Koushik (2/24) got a good purchase off the surface. For Koushik, who switched allegiance to Goa this season, it was a bittersweet debut, since it came against his former team, Karnataka.Early morning rain ensured a one-and-a-half-hour delay and a sluggish outfield. The contest between Koushik, who bowled two length spells in as many sessions, and his former teammates Nikin Jose and skipper Mayank Agarwal was an interesting one. Agarwal and Koushik’s familiarity with strengths and weaknesses ensured a cat-and-mouse game. Agarwal did well to negate Koushik’s movement off the surface. Just 15 runs came off the first 12 overs.At the other end, Arjun Tendulkar largely kept it stump-to-stump and struck the opening blow. Nikin’s attempt to flick a straight delivery was caught by Manthan Khutkar at short-leg. KL Shrijith (0), promoted up the order, chased an outside off delivery from Arjun and joined Nikin in the dressing room.The need was a big innings from Agarwal and Karun, and they were heading in that direction when the former poked a Koushik delivery, which was on the length, to his opposite number Snehal Khautankar at first slip. When R Smaran was caught fishing a Koushik delivery, Karnataka were in deep trouble at 65/4 in the 27th over. The introduction of spin through Darshan Misal in the 30th over helped Karun and Abinav to free up their arm and find the gaps, which Karun found well between the slips. There were no cheeky runs; instead, the duo attacked the loose deliveries and settled into a nice rhythm. As the wicket eased, in the 36th over, Karun struck a maximum off Misal. At the stroke of tea, Karnataka lost Abhinav, when his well-timed pull shot off Arjun fell short at deep square leg and was taken by Koushik.Shreyas and Karun then joined forces to see through the final session, which was cut short by 10 minutes due to bad light.Karnataka adopted a pace-heavy approach. Vidwath Kaverappa, Vyshak Vijay Kumar returned with Abhilash Shetty and all-rounder Yashovardhan Parantap completing the pace attack. Shreyas is the lone spinner picked. scoreboardKarnataka (1st innings): Nikin Jose c Khutkar b Arjun 3, Mayank Agarwal c Kauthankar b Koushik 28, KL Shrijith c Dubhashi b Arjun 0, Karun Nair (batting) 86, Smaran R c Tejrana b Koushik 3, Abhinav Manohar c Koushik b Arjun 37, Shreyas Gopal (batting) 48. Extras: (NB-3; B-5; LB-9) 17. Total (5 wkts; 69 overs) 222/5.Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-26, 3-47, 4-65, 5-128.Bowling: Arjun Tendulkar 17-5-47-3, V Koushik 18-7-24-2, Vijesh Prabhudesai 14-3-57-0, Darshan Misal 11-0-56-0, Mohit Redkar 5-0-16-0, Suyash Prabhudesai 4-0-8-0.
