Ranji Trophy: Karun Nair's ton puts Karnataka on top

SHIVAMOGGA: With Karnataka precariously placed at 57/3 in their second innings on Day 2, Karun Nair walked out to bat. Patience is a trait which the 25-year-old displays in plenty and against Hyderabad, on Day 3 of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter here, he did precisely that along with Stuart Binny (72,144b, 8x4, 1x6).
Karun brought up his 11th first-class century in fine fashion at a time when the home team needed batsmen to grind it out in the middle.The India international's 229 ball-134 ensured Karnataka garnered a healthy 379-run lead as Hyderabad bowled out them for 332 in 105.4 overs at the KSCA Navule stadium here.
Hyderabad took the battle to the opposition camp and were placed at 92/2 with a 288-run deficit to cover on the final day. Karnataka opened their bowling with left-arm pacer Sreenath Arvind and off-spinner K Gowtham but the Hyderabad batsmen did well to thwart them. At close, opener Tanmay Agarwal remained unbeaten on 43 along with skipper Ambati Rayudu (18 n.o)
While 288 may be difficult to get on a fourth-day track, Karnataka bowlers will have to push hard for their wickets and bag six points on offer for a win.
In the morning, Karun and Binny rotated strike and picked out the spinners for the boundary balls. The fact that Hyderabad's mainstay pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled just one over on the day, worked in the hosts' favour. Binny, who was 27 overnight, showed good judgement, timing and precision as he neutralised the negative line bowled by the spinners. He was handed a lifeline in the 19th over of the day when, on 49, he was trapped in front by Ravi Kiran only for the umpires to no-ball him. The all-rounder, who struck a crucial 61 in the first essay, became Mehdi Hasan's (5-88) fifth victim of the innings when he failed to find the elevation required to clear substitute fielder Rohit Rayadu at long-off.
Karun received good support from the other end as he went about constructing a century which came off a single nudged to mid-on. His 37-run sixth-wicket partnership with CM Gautham (21) followed by 40 runs with skipper R Vinay Kumar (8th wicket) and 37 with Arvind (10th wicket) formed the fulcrum of Karnataka's total in the latter part of their innings. The curtains came down on Karun's innings when he was bowled attempting to loft Akash Bhandari (3-64) over covers.
Siraj rested: Hyderabad pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled just three overs in Karnataka's second innings. The 23-year-old, who received his maiden T20 international call-up for next month's series against New Zealand, is down with a mild stomach cramp and the team management did not want to risk him on a spinners' track.
Scoreboard
Karnataka (I Innings): 183
Hyderabad (I Innings): 136
Karnataka (II Innings, o/n 128/4): Karun Nair B Bhandari 134, Stuart Binny c Rohit (sub) b Hasan 72, CM Gautam c Kiran b Ojha 21, Shreyas Gopal b Ravi 0, R Vinay Kumar b Bhandari 14, Abhimanyu Mithun lbw Bhandari 0, Sreenath Arvind (not out) 10. Extras (B-18, LB-6, NB-5) 29. Total (all out in 105.4 overs) 332.
Fall of wickets: 5-217, 6-254, 7-255, 8-295, 9-295
Bowling: Ravi Kiran 14-1-50-1, Mehdi Hasan 36-6-88-5, Pragyan Ojha 23-2-90-1, Mohammed Siraj 3-1-9-0, Akash Bhandari 27.4-5-64-3, Ambati Rayadu 1-0-2-0, Tanmay Agarwal 1-0-5-0.
Hyderabad (II innings): Tanmay Agarwal (not out) 43, Akshath Reddy c Gautam b K Gowtham 15, K Sumanth c Arvind b Shreyas 9, Ambati Rayadu (not out) 18. Extras 7 (NB-2, LB-5). Total (for 2wkts; 32 overs) 92.
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-50.
Bowling: 3-0-10-0, K Gowtham 13-2-32-1, Abhimanyu Mithun 4-1-7-0, Shreyas Gopal 6-0-21-1, Karun Nair 2-0-8-0, R Vinay Kumar 4-1-9-0.