Ranji Trophy: Arjun Tendulkar strikes early before Karun Nair and Shreyas Gopal save Karnataka | Cricket News

SHIVAMOGGA: Karun Nair left Karnataka for Vidarbha on a sour note two seasons ago. At Vidarbha, he regained form and confidence, scored big scores and earned a recall to the Indian Test.Go beyond borders with our YouTube channel. REGISTER NOW!Back home this season, Karun, for the second time in as many matches, saved the former champions. Against Goa in their Ranji Trophy match at the KSCA Navule Stadium here on Saturday, the 33-year-old hit an unbeaten 86 in style (138b; 7×4; 1×6), helping Karnataka reach 222/5 in 69 overs on a rain-soaked opening day.

Showing classic strokeplay and timing, he anchored the Karnataka 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 runs ensured a wicketless final session.Goa skipper Snehal Kauthankar won the toss and signaled that they would play on a surface covered with healthy grass. The call was good and the new ball pair of Arjun Tendulkar (3/47) and V Koushik (2/24) got good purchase on the surface. For Koushik, who switched allegiance to Goa this season, it was a bittersweet debut as it was against his old team, Karnataka.Morning rain led to an hour and a half delay and a slow outfield. The competition between Koushik, who bowled two lengths 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 game of cat and mouse. Agarwal did well to cancel out Koushik’s move outside the box. Only 15 runs were scored in the first 12 overs.At the other end, Arjun Tendulkar held on well and delivered the opening blow. Nikin’s attempt to bowl a straight delivery was caught by Manthan Khutkar at short leg. KL Shrijith (0), promoted up the order, chased down an outside 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 the direction when the former bowled a Koushik delivery, which was on length, to his counterpart Snehal Khautankar at first slip. When R Smaran was caught angling 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 free their arm and find the spaces, which Karun found well between the slips. There were no cheeky races; instead, the duo attacked loose deliveries and settled into a nice rhythm. As the wicket eased, in the 36th over, Karun hit a maximum off Misal. At the stroke of tea, Karnataka lost Abhinav, when his well-timed shot at Arjun failed at deep square leg and was caught by Koushik.Shreyas and Karun then joined forces to complete the final session, which was cut short by 10 minutes due to poor light.Karnataka has adopted a paced approach. Vidwath Kaverappa, Vyshak Vijay Kumar returned with Abhilash Shetty and all-rounder Yashovardhan Parantap completing the fast-paced attack. Shreyas is the only spinner chosen. DASHBOARDKarnataka (1st round): 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 v Tejrana b Koushik 3, Abhinav Manohar c Koushik b Arjun 37, Shreyas Gopal (batting) 48. Supplements: (NB-3; B-5; LB-9) 17. Total (5 weeks; 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.