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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Manuja Veerappa | TNN

Ranji Trophy: Vidwath Kaverappa leads Karnataka pacers' charge

Pondicherry skittled for 170 on bouncy track

BENGALURU: The combined first-class match experience of the Karnataka pace trio – Ronit More (33 matches), Vidwath Kaverappa (3) and Vyshak Vijaykumar (3) is 39 matches. The lack of experience and the shift from limited overs to red-ball cricket showed in their Ranji Trophy season opener against Services last week. But apparently, some hard lessons were learnt over the past few days.

At the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Tuesday, the trio exploited a bouncy track to come up with an inspired burst of pace bowling to put Karnataka in command on the opening day against Pondicherry.

The visitors showed no stomach for a fight — barring skipper Rohit D's counterattacking 51-ball 44 — and were bowled out for 170 in 54 overs.

In reply, openers R Samarth (59 batting; 97b; 9x4) and Mayank Agarwal (51; 91b; 5x4; 1x6) got off to a good start with their stand yielding 111 runs. Karnataka were 111/1 at stumps, trailing by 59 runs.

The day belonged to the 23-year-old Kaverappa (4/52). The pacer, who banks more on his abilities than speed, ensured two quick breakthroughs in his first spell of seven overs. Neyan Kangayan (0), who was dropped by wicketkeeper BR Sharath in the first over, was trapped in front off a short- of-a-length ball while the extra bounce saw the other opener Aravind K offering a low catch to Manish Pandey at second slip.

While More (2/34) and Vyshak (3/39) maintained tight lines, Kaverappa stuck to bowling around the off-stump region, which spelt trouble for the batters. Kaverappa's best dismissal was that of the seasoned Paras Dogra — an angled ball which came in before moving away leaving the batter with no option but to defend. The edge was taken by Sharath. Arun Karthick (16) too was caught by Sharath but he was visibly unhappy as he thought the ball had come off the pads.

Karnataka did give away some extra runs in the post-lunch session and surprisingly brought in leggie Shreyas Gopal towards the fag end of the first innings.

Speaking on the consistency in his performance, Kaverappa said, “I am more experienced now (compared to last season). I have had the confidence of doing well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. Also, in the off-season I worked on my run-up and loading which are making a lot of difference now.”

SCOREBOARD:

Pondicherry (I innings): Kangayan lbw Kaverappa 0, Aravind c Pandey b Kaverappa 20, Pande c Pandey b More 11, Dogra c Sharath b Kaverappa 9, Rohit c Onat b Vyshak 44, Karthick c Sharath b Vyshak 16, A Sharma c Shreyas b More 11, Viknesh c Sharath b Vyshak 8, Ashwath 20 n.o, Udeshi c Agarwal b Kaverappa 19, Mathew lbw Shreyas 2. Extras: (LB-10) 10. Total (all out; 54 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-31, 3-36, 4-73, 5-101, 6-110, 7-128, 8-133, 9-163

Bowling: Kaverappa 16-3-52-4, More 12-1-34-2, Vyshak 13-4-39-3, Gowtham 11-2-30-0, Shreyas 2-1-5-1

Karnataka (I innings): Samarth (batting) 59, Agarwal c Karthick b Sharma 51, More 9batting) 0. Extras (NB-1) 1. Total (1 wkt; 32 overs) 111

Fall of wicket: 1-111

Bowling: Ashwath 11-3-34-0, Mathew 8-2-23-0, Udeshi 8-1-25-0, Viknesh 3-0-21-0, A Sharma 2-1-8-1

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