Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy season so far has been a tale of two halves, and the contrast between them could not have been starker.
Following a shaky take off under new head coach R Vinay Kumar, the eight-time champions have steadied themselves to hit cruise-mode after enduring some turbulence along the way.
Karnataka came into their third game having not delivered on the pre-season promise, with two points in as many games and only above Tripura on the Group B table.
In a tournament of this nature, a slow start could mean curtains, and desperation was slowly starting to grow. At least that’s how it looked from the outside.
But coach Vinay, “sitting inside with the players and knowing them” insisted they were “on track”.
Taking cue from the backroom staff, Karnataka, albeit slow, came out of their shell, extracted consecutive bonus-point victories and now have 16 points in four matches, and are second on points behind Hyderabad (20 points).
What does it convey? Karnataka are a ruthless bunch on their day and have ticked necessary boxes as the season wore on.
While the dressing room now will be filled with optimism, there have been a few flaws. On the opening day of the season, the batsmen’s technique against the new-ball was put to test by the Andhra quicks, and the top-order, on a surface that demanded good decision-making, faltered to 22/4.
The issues again persisted against Saurashtra when they were 181/7 before Manvanth Kumar’s maiden first-class ton saved the blushes.
Another sign of worry for Karnataka has been the lack of penetration on flat decks, something they carried all along last season. In Alur, they had reduced Saurashtra to 171/5 and then 303/8 but could not wrap up the tail, conceding first innings honours after Parth Bhut and Jaydev Unadkat’s dogged resistance.
Somewhere along the line, their fielding also came in sharp focus, especially for dropped catches.
Meanwhile, there have been lots of positives too.
The pillars of strength for Karnataka have been their spinners, a welcome highlight for a side that has not been able to find able ones with several choices making a fleeting appearances.
Three five-wicket hauls, two of which helped Karnataka to massive wins against Tripura and Assam, gave Shikhar Shetty close to full marks. And his partner-in-crime Ritesh Bhatkal’s all-round abilities give Karnataka the depth.
Shreyas Gopal’s five-wicket haul (vs Tripura) and four-for (vs Assam) have only added to the sparks. When the leg-spinner was unavailable, Karnataka had the luxury to dig into their reserves and play Madhav Bajaj, who clocked in a decent performance.
Spin coming good and the emergence of pace bowling all-rounder Manvanth meant that it allowed Karnataka to manage their injury returnees Vidwath Kaverappa and Vyshak Vijaykumar well, with the duo playing just one game together in four. Manvanth certainly needs a special mention. The 22-year-old has been consistently reliable. And Karnataka will hope that they have unearthed a gem. Having not made the list of Ranji probables in October, the Mysuru lad now sits with two first-class hundreds and a five-for.
One position that looked unsure was the No. 3, as Karnataka used as many as four options in the first four innings. But with Aneesh K V scoring 357 runs, that seems to have been taken care of. Aneeshwar Gautam has also impressed the coaches and selectors with a fine hundred in just his second game, and followed it up with an 83 in his third.
Karnataka have shown significant improvement, especially with K L Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and Smaran R on national duty, and also have the ingredients to create something special. Will they, is a question only time can answer.
