Ranji Trophy: R Smaran's Hundred, Karun Nair's 95 Give Karnataka Control Over Chandigarh
As they have done so often this season, R Smaran and Karun Nair rescued Karnataka, milking 119 runs for the fourth wicket.
Promising Ravichandran Smaran made an unbeaten hundred and Karun Nair a 95 as Karnataka reached a strong 298 for five against Chandigarh on the opening day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match in Hubballi on Sunday. Smaran (110 batting) had Shreyas Gopal (38 batting) for company at stumps at the KSCA Stadium. This is Smaran's second successive three-figure mark after making an unbeaten 220 against Kerala in the last match at Mangalapuram. Karnataka were on the back foot initially, having lost skipper Mayank Agarwal, KV Aneesh and KL Shrijith for just 64 on the board.
As they have done so often this season, Smaran and Karun rescued Karnataka, milking 119 runs for the fourth wicket.
Just as Karun (95, 164b) was motoring towards another hundred, the right-hander was trapped in front of the wicket by left-arm spinner Tanpreet Singh.
Left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla (2/85) soon jettisoned Abhinav Manohar as Karnataka slipped to 210 five to face a mini crisis.
But the left-handed Smaran, who brought up his hundred off 165 balls in 219 minutes, found a strong-willed partner in Shreyas.
The pair added 88 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand to take Karnataka close to the 300-run mark.
Meanwhile, Middle-order batter Swarupam Purkayastha hit a patient half-century while skipper Sumit Ghadigaonkar remained unbeaten on 48 before Bengal reduced Assam to 194 for eight on the opening day of a Ranji Trophy Group C match in Kalyani.
Sent into bat, Purkayastha held the Assam innings together by scoring 62 off 140 balls that included seven boundaries and one hit over the fence.
He stitched 53 runs with Pradyun Saikia (38) for the second wicket and then 68 runs for the fourth wicket with Ghadigaonkar to take Assam close to the 200-run mark.
Right-arm fast bowler Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (3/20), Mohammed Kaif (2/30) and Mohammed Shami (2/62) were the main wicket takers for Bengal.
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