da wazamba： Offspinner K Gowtham picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as Karnataka completed an innings-and-160-run win over Delhi on the third day in Kolkata
da betobet： Shashank Kishore in Kolkata22-Oct-2016
ScorecardK Gowtham leads Karnataka off the field after Delhi were bowled out in the second session on the third day•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Delhi’s coach KP Bhaskar lamented how batsmen these days, particularly in domestic cricket, undermined the use of technique in search of flexibility. “Back in our days, technique was most important. Then came potential, and fitness was third. Today, technique has gone to number three.” On Saturday, the third day in Kolkata, his batsmen did not do much to disprove that theory as Karnataka won by an innings and 160 runs to walk away with seven points.Shots you don’t expect from Ranji players – Delhi coach
Delhi’s head coach KP Bhaskar has said it was his side’s poor batting, and not the Eden Gardens surface, which was to blame for their abject surrender inside three days to Karnataka.
“It was not a 90-run wicket, to be honest,” he said. “We committed hara-kiri and played shots you don’t expect from a Ranji Trophy player.
“I always tell these boys ‘when you represent Delhi, you are representing the whole cricket fraternity’. You’re talking about the likes of the Virender Sehwags, the Virat Kohlis, the Jimmy Amarnaths and the Madan Lals.
They’ve set standards, they’ve had character. You have to adapt, that’s what makes a better player, and we lacked that.”
That Delhi were nearly bowled out twice in under a session each time, even as Karnataka stacked up 414 showed the Eden Gardens surface was not to blame for the batting debacle. This was a classic case of what Daljit Singh, BCCI’s chief curator, termed the “middle wicket” that assisted seamers early on, eased out for batsmen to make merry and then took turn. By being bowled out for 90 in the first innings, Delhi did not give themselves a chance to make best use of the surface, where as many as five Karnataka batsmen made half-centuries.If it was S Aravind, who ran through Delhi’s line-up in a fine exhibition of seam bowling in the first innings, offspinner K Gowtham, playing in only his second first-class game in nearly four years, did the bulk of the damage on Saturday. That he had the luxury of attacking fields helped him lure the batsmen repeatedly with flight. And batsmen fell into the trap of trying to break free. The end result was a maiden five-wicket haul.After a failure in the first innings, this was an opportunity for Gautam Gambhir to knuckle down and bat long. If match time was what he wanted, he could not have asked for a better challenge. Abhimanyu Mithun, darting the ball both ways, and Aravind, coming off a four-for in the first innings, tested Gambhir’s front-foot play. But three plays and misses later, he poked at an away-going delivery that was gobbled at second slip by Robin Uthappa. Mithun had two in two when he got a ball to deviate late to square up Dhruv Shorey and hit the top of off stump.Nitish Rana held fort briefly for 28 runs, but was foxed by a straighter one from Gowtham. Delhi’s lack of application and match awareness increasingly became visible when Rishabh Pant, coming off a triple-century in the previous game against Maharashtra in Mumbai, started with a six, but fell soon after when he was sucked into a drive that carried to second slip. Unmukt Chand, the vice-captain, tried to fetch a slog sweep from outside off, only to top-edge to Karun Nair at first slip. At 94 for 7, there was a possibility of the match finishing before lunch.That they just managed to stretch it beyond was largely due to Karnataka switching off briefly as the interval approached. It took them little over 10 overs into the second session to wrap up the match, when Aravind, quite fittingly, had the final wicket when the ball beat Pawan Suyal’s slog to send the off stump on a cartwheel. Varun Sood swung his way to 41 not out in the interim, when Delhi needed to bat out 180 overs to save the game.
