Mysuru: After reeling under massive blows from Karnataka bowlers in the first session, Baroda got some relief and motored to safety on the bakc of a spellbinding innings from the young inform batsman Deepak Hooda. His 142 runs helped Baroda reach 320 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 90 overs at the end of day one, here in the group ‘A’ Ranji test match held at SDNR Wadiyar grounds on Wednesday.
Winning the toss, Baroda team which earlier hinted at opting to bowl first, surprisingly chose to bat first. C M Gautam replaced Vinay Kumar as captain after Vinay Kumar was given a match off to rest. Kedar Devdhar was sent to pavilion in the fourth over of the match. Kedhar who had just opened his account was caught at first slip by the Indian test hero, K L Rahul of the bowling of Mithun, when team score was just 6 runs. Saurabh slammed four boundaries and was looking good with 24 runs, got out to Ronit More. He was caught behind by C M Gautam.
When the team score was on 37, Baroda lost their second wicket. After adding 8 runs to the team total, captain Adithya got out, falling to a catch behind the wicket after failing to judge the length of the ball from Ronit More and snicking it to the keeper. Yusuf Pathan who got a generous round of applause from the Mysuru crowd walked back to the pavilion in a short while. A mithun bouncer rose steeply and Pathan gloved it to the keeper Gautam for his third catch. He scored 5. At this stage Baroda was in dire straits at 52.
It would have been worse for the Baroda, had Karnataka not missed a hot chance of dismissing Hardik Pandya. He was dropped by Abhimanyu Mithun at mid-off of the bowling of leg spinner Shreyas Gopal. At this stage Baroda was 83 for four and Hardik was on 20.
After lunch, Hardik Pandya was the first one to return to the pavilion as Shreyas Gopal’s turning ball snicked the willow and landed in the safe hands of Robin Uthappa. Left handed former India all rounder, Irfan Pathan joined Deepak Hooda, and together they stemmed the rot. The left and right handed combination did well to build a partnership as the bowlers failed to put the pressure on them. Deepak Hooda who was playing ball according to merit, flexed his muscles in Abrar Kazi’s over to hit two sixes and a four. He played with confidence and completed his half century in 96 balls with comprising 2 fours and 2 sixes.
In the 61st Irfan Pathan,played the ball in front of him with soft hands and tried to snatch a run. Samarth responded with speed and threw the ball at the stumps at the non-striker’s end which ended an innings which was expected to change the direction of the game. Irfan who, was till then playing a fine anchor role was out for 34 runs in 61 balls with 6 fours. At this stage, baroda was on 180. P R Shah joined Hooda at the crease and went on build a partnership of 58 runs which helped the team go towards their first target – the 300 run mark.
Abrar Kazi, the all rounder, who was relying on line and length to stifle he batsmen, was rewarded for his perseverance, when P R Shah fell to him lbw with the team score on 238. Swapnil Singh then came in and anchored Deepak Hooda to his century. He completed his century in 170 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes.
Celebration time for Karnataka came at the fag end of the days play when Hooda was out for 142.
His innings comprised 13 boundaries and 6 sixes and came of 194 balls. He was out when he snicked a Mithun delivery to the keeper Gautam. At the end of the day, tailender Gagan deep and Swapnil were at the crease with 5 and 28 respectively.
For Karnataka it was Mithun and Ronit More who bowled exceptionally well as they took three and two wickets respectively. There was bounce and carry early on, however, many a snick did not carry to slips while a catch was put down. All in all an absorbing days cricket.
At press conference
After the game, addressing the media persons, Deepak Hooda said, “it was a good track for the seam bowlers and Mithun did take its advantage. But in the second session it helped the batsmen and thats where we took the game away from Karnataka.”
Speaking about his strategy he said, “I came out with a strategy to spend time at the crease in the first half. Once my confidence was built and then I started to trouble the bowlers. It is a very good sporting wicket for the game.”
Baroda batting: 320 for 8 in 90 overs
Saurabh ct C M Gautam b Ronit More 25
Kedar Devdhar ct K L Rahul b Mithun A 1
Aditya Waghmode ct C M Gautam b Ronit More 14
H H Pandya ct Robin Uthappa b Shreyas Gopal 24
Yusuf Pathan ct C M Gautam b Mithun A 5
Deepak Jagbir Hooda ct C M Gautam b Mithun A 142
I K Pathan Run Out Samarth R 34
P R Shah lbw Abrar Kazi 30
Swapnil K Singh not out 28
Gagandeep not out 5
Karnataka bowling
Arvind Sreenath 21-6-40-0
Mithun A 21-5-75-3
Ronit More 17-4-52-2
Karun Nair 6-1-13-0
Manish Pandey 3-1-4-0
Shreyas Gopal 13-2-78-1
Abrar Kazi 9-0-49-1
