Bhubaneswar: CM Gautam (95, 240b, 5×4, 1×6), Shreyas Gopal (77, 130b, 4×4) and K Gowtham (46, 62b, 3×4, 1×6) batted with doggedness to salvage a draw for Karnataka against Orissa in their Ranji Trophy Group B encounter at the Palam Ground in New Delhi, Thursday.
Karnakata, who resumed the day at 244 for six were under pressure as they were only 81 runs ahead and early losses of wickets could have paved the way for an outright Orissa victory. However, the three put up a stellar show to thwart Orissa plans.
Gautam and Gopal added 69 runs for the seventh wicket, but more importantly consumed 24.4 overs. After Gautam’s dismissal caught behind off Dhiraj Singh (5/89), just five short of his 11th first class ton, it was the turn of Gopal and Gowtham to frustrate the Orissa bowlers for another 18.4 overs during which they put on 86 runs. Karnataka were finally bowled out for 393 which left Orissa with a target of 231 runs. They finished on 63 without loss.
Orissa are now placed fifth with 15 points from six games in Group B while Karnataka are leading the table with 30 points from an identical number of games.
Brief scores
Karnataka 179 and 393 (CM Gautam 95, Shreyas Gopal 77; Dhiraj Singh 5/89); Orissa 342 and 63 for no loss (Ranjit Singh 35 n o). Match drawn.
Other Group B matches
(At Chennai): Maharashtra 542 beat Assam 256 and 234 (Arun Karthik 87, Swarupam Purkayastha 69; Mohsin Sayyed 4/47) by an innings and 52 runs.
(At Delhi): Saurashtra 301 and 189 (Azhar Sheikh 4/31, Akshay Wakhare 3/42) lost to Vidarbha 347 and 146 for 2 (Ganesh Satish 56 n o, Sanjay Ramaswamy 51) by eight wickets.
(At Wayanad): Rajasthan 238 and 221 lost to Delhi 307 and 156 for 8 (Shikhar Dhawan 49) by two wickets.
