NEW DELHI: Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal rose to the occasion as he scored a fighting unbeaten century to take the hosts to 229 for five against Saurashtra at the end of the Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Karnataka, who lost half their side for 112 in 40.3 overs, had a horrible start after being put into bat. 87 overs were bowled on the opening day before the umpires called stumps.
But opener Agarwal (110 not out) held one end together with wicket-keeper batter Srinivas Sharath (58 not out) to steady the innings. The duo put on an unbeaten 117-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Right-arm medium pacer Kushang Patel picked up two wickets, while Chetan Sakariya and Prerak Mankad accounted for one Karnataka batter each. The other wicket fell to a run out.
Agarwal's patient knock came off 246 balls during which he struck 11 boundaries and a six, while Sharath faced 143 deliveries during his unconquered knock and hit four fours in the process.
Karnataka did not have the best of starts as they lost opener Ravikumar Samarth in the sixth over, caught by Vishvaraj Jadeja off the bowling of Patel.
New man in Devdutt Padikkal didn't last long, caught by Sheldon Jackson off Sakariya's bowling in the opening delivery of the ninth over.
Agarwal and Nikin Jose (18) shared 47 runs for the next wicket before the latter nicked a Patel delivery to Harvik Desai behind the stumps in the 29th over.
Manish Pandey didn't trouble the scorers much, becoming Mankad's scalp and overs later Shreyas Gopal (15) became the victim of a run out as Karnataka slumped to 112 for 5.
But Agarwal and Sharath joined hands and played sensibly without taking any risks to deny Saurashtra further inroads.
Brief Scores:
(With inputs from PTI)
