Devdutt Padikkal’s unbeaten 148 and KL Rahul’s fluent 141 drove Karnataka to 355 for 2 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Lucknow. In Kalyani, Sudip Kumar Gharami followed last week’s 299 with 136 to guide Bengal from 89 for 3 to 249 for 5 against Jammu & Kashmir.
Karnataka v Uttarakhand – Lucknow
• Karnataka 355-2 (Padikkal 148, Rahul 141, Rawat 2-73)
• Uttarakhand chose to bowl
Uttarakhand’s decision to bowl looked sound when the new ball jagged about and Aditya Rawat, only 18, pinned Mayank Agarwal for five. Nine overs in, Karnataka had 18 on the board and a single wicket down. That, however, was where the home side’s good morning ended.
Rahul and Padikkal first steadied, then accelerated. Left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra was lifted straight for sixes, extras crept up, and by lunch the second-wicket stand was rolling. Rahul reached his hundred with a calm nudge off part-timer Avneesh Sudha – his second successive century this season – before Padikkal brought up his own three-figure score by launching Jagadeesa Suchith over long-on.
The pair added 278, Karnataka’s second-best second-wicket partnership since 2005-06, before Rawat struck again: Rahul pushed at a slower ball and returned a leading-edge caught-and-bowled. Any hope of a collapse was short-lived. Karun Nair walked in with a clip and a crunch – 29 off his first 31 deliveries – and then settled next to Padikkal for an unbroken 59. By stumps, the visitors were set for something well beyond 500, leaving Uttarakhand’s bowlers contemplating long hours in the field.
Bengal v Jammu & Kashmir – Kalyani
• Bengal 249-5 (Gharami 136, Easwaran 49, Shahbaz 42, Sunil 2-31)
• Jammu & Kashmir chose to bowl
Gharami’s century was less flashy but every bit as valuable. Inserted on a helpful track, Bengal lost Abhimanyu Easwaran’s partner in the second over when Sunil Kumar nipped one through the gate. Seaming deliveries from Sunil, Auqib Nabi and Yudhvir Singh made run-scoring awkward and, for a while, Gharami survived on luck alone: a caught-behind overturned, then an lbw review upheld.
It took him 19 balls to get off the mark but he did so in style, skipping down the track to lift Sunil over cover for six. An 85-run stand with Easwaran gave Bengal breathing space until Nabi removed the captain for 49 immediately after lunch, and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal fell two overs later.
Anustup Majumdar offered sturdy support in a 66-run partnership before Abid Mushtaq slid one into the pads to trap him for 14. Shahbaz Ahmed’s breezy 42 helped push the total towards respectability, but when he nicked behind late in the day Bengal were still short of par at 249 for 5. Gharami, composed on 136, will look to add crucial lower-order runs on Monday.
Early assessments
Karnataka’s position is already dominant: they have depth in the middle order and a surface expected to deteriorate. Uttarakhand’s hopes hinge on early wickets and, realistically, time lost to weather.
Bengal’s match is more finely balanced. The ball is still moving enough for J&K’s seamers to fancy the morning session, while the pitch promises turn later on. If Gharami can farm the strike and push the score past 350, Bengal’s spinners will feel in the game.
Neither semi-final has produced a surprise yet, but as every Ranji veteran will say, “First-day honours rarely decide the match – the second morning usually does.”
