All-rounder Shreyas Gopal’s career-best 161 not out helped Karnataka take a massive 490-run first innings lead against Uttarakhand in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal here on Thursday. At stumps on the third day, Uttarakhand were 106 for three in their second innings and still trail by 384 runs. Deekshanshu Negi and Swapnil Singh are playing by scoring 27-27 runs.
Vidavath Kaverappa (2/22) dismissed Uttarakhand’s opening pair Avneesh Sudha (04) and Jeevanjot Singh (24 runs) while debutant M Venkatesh took the wicket of former Delhi batsman Kunal Chandela, who played against Vidarbha in 2016. Played for him in 17 finals. Uttarakhand also includes wicket-keeper batsman Aditya Tare but the team seems to have lost this match against eight-time champions Karnataka.
The Karnataka team is trying to reach the first semi-final after 2020. Karnataka started playing ahead of 474 runs for five wickets. The team’s strategy was clear that it would not declare the innings. Last night’s Shatakveer Gopal continued in the same vein as he completed 3000 runs in first class cricket. He scored his century in Ranji Trophy after 2017-18 on Wednesday.
Gopal lost the wicket of his partner BR Sharath early while Krishnappa Gautam reached the pavilion before lunch. But the all-rounder from Karnataka completed his 150 runs. He and Gautam shared an 85-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Swapnil Singh gave Uttarakhand the breakthrough in the end, after which Abhay Negi took four wickets for 109 runs, dismissing the tail batsmen.
