Ravichandran Smaran's patient fifty and pacers' outstanding effort overshadowed Shubman Gill's modest outing, an 8-ball 4, as Karnataka seized total control of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Punjab in Bengaluru on Thursday. (More Cricket News)
Skipper Gill's poor effort had a cascading effect on Punjab's innings as they crumbled for a paltry 55 in their first essay🎉.
Smaran, who us♛ed all his technical nous, then made an un🍸beaten 83 (100b, 12x4s, 1x6) as Karnataka reached 199 for 4 when stumps were drawn on Day 1.
The home side now lead by 144 runs, and that cushion was the result of the remarkable spells by 🅷the pace troika of Vasuki Koushik (11-4-16-4), Abhilash Shetty (9-4-19-3) and Prasidh Krishna (8𓄧-3-11-2).
There was not a♑ moment of respite for the Punjab batters on a lively pitch that offered appreciable pace and carry.
But Karnataka batters, particularly 🧜Smaran, negotiated the conditions far better than their opponents 💞to drive their side to command.
Suraj's six-for wrecks Haryana
Skipper Ankit Kumar made 57 but rest of the Haryana batters succumbed to pacer Su🗹raj Sindhu Jaiswal (6/46) as Bengal gained significant upper hand in their match on day one.
Bengal reached 10 foඣr 1 at close and n🐽eed 148 runs to gain the important first innings lead.
Ayush's ton powers Bihar
Middle-order batter Ayush Loharuka made a gritty 101 (227b, 13x4s, 1x6) as Bihar reached a co⛎mpetitive 248 all out against Uttar Pradesh at the of Day 1.
He had good support from Sharman Nigrodh (44💟) and Sach🍸in Kumar (38).
For UP, ꩵpacer Shivam Mavi was the lead bowler taking fo🔥ur wickets.
In their first innings, UP made 4 for no loss in one 🙈🌳over.
Kerala in command
Pacer MD Nidheesh's 5/44 helped Kerala bundle out Madhya Pradesh for 1💟60 and then reached 54 for no loss to gain massive strides in the match at Thiruvananthapuram.
For ♏MP, skipper Shubham Sharma top-scored with a 134-ball 54.ဣ
Brief scores
At Bengaluru: Punjab: 55 all out in 29 overs (V Koushik 4/16, Abhilash Shetty 3/19, Prasidh Krishna 2/11) vsꦐ Karnataka: 199/4 in 50 overs (R Smaran 83 not out, KV Aneesh 33; Maꦚyank Markande 1/6).
At Kalyani: Haryana: 157♍ all out in 44.5 overs (Ankit Kumar 57; Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6/46, Mukesh Kumar 2/52) vs Bengal: 10/1🐓 in 5 overs.
At Patna: Bihar: 248 all out in 86 overs (Ayush Loharuka 101, Sharman Nig🎃rodh 44; Shivam Mavi 4/61) vs UP: 4/0 in 🌟1 over.
At Thiruvananthapuram: Madhya Pradesh: 160 all out in 60.2 overs (Shubham Sharma 54, Venkatesh Iyer 42; MD Nidheesh 5/44) vs Kerala: 54 for no loss in 18 overs🌜𝓡 (Akshay Chandran 22 batting, Rohan Kunnummal 25 batting).
