Hubli: Robin Uthappa’s 16th first-class century helped Karnataka take a big first-innings lead of 263 to take the home side to a strong position on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Tuesday.
Uthappa (156), who failed to make the cut for India’s World Cup squad, stitched a 177-run partnership for the fifth-wicket with Chidhambaram Gautam (80) as Karnataka declared at 423/9 in reply to J&K’s 160 all out at KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground.
That left Jammu and Kashmir an hour to bat out on day two. The visitors reached 37 for the loss of opener Obaid Haroon (9), who was caught behind while poking at a length ball in the corridor from Abhimanyu Mithun.
The other opener Adil Reshi and Aditya Singh were batting on 23 and four respectively at the draw of stumps.
J&K now trail by 227 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand.
Uthappa’s 156 had come on a tricky pitch with seam movement and inconsistent bounce. He hit 23 boundaries and a six in his 202-ball innings.
J and K did not do themselves any favours on the field, and twice dropped Uthappa in the slips — Paras Sharma put him down when he was on 63 and Ian Dev Singh when he was on 135.
By the time the second drop happened, Uthappa was already in the middle of another big lower-order partnership, this time with Shreyas Gopal (58 batting).
The seventh-wicket pair added 88 in 114 balls before Mohammed Mudhasir finally broke through to bowl Uthappa. Shreyas seven fours in his 108-ball knock.
For J&K, pacer Mudhasir took four wickets for 99 runs while Ram Dayal and Umar Nazir grabbed three and two wickets respectively.
Brief Scores:
Jammu & Kashmir: 160 & 36/1 in 12 overs
Karnataka: 423 for 9 decl in 103 overs (Robin Uthappa 156, Chidhambaram Gautam 80, Shreyas Gopal 58 batting; Mohammed Mudhasir 4/99). PTI
