Karnataka dismissed for 88, Tamil Nadu 111-4 in Ranji quarters

With medium pacer Ashwin Crist picking up 6-31, Tamil Nadu bundled out Karnataka for barely 88 runs before posting 111 for four wickets in reply on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy cricket quarter-final match here on Friday.

The 22-year-old right-armer snared Kaunain Abbas (0), Manish Pandey (28), Karun Nair (14), Stuart Binny (0) C.M. Gautam (2) and R. Vinay Kumar (14) as he, along with fellow opening pacer T. Natarajan (3-18) ripped apart the star-studded Karnataka batting line-up in only 37.1 overs.

Crist was well complemented by left-armer Natarajan, who accounted for Ravikumar Samarth (11), Lokesh Rahul (4) and Abhimanyu Mithun (6) on a lively wicket.

In reply, Tamil Nadu totted up 111 for four, taking a handy 23 runs lead. Dinesh Karthik (31 not out) and Vijay Shankar (34) were the two best batsmen for Tamil Nadu. Karthik and Abhinav Mukund (3 not out) were unbeaten at the end of the first day.

Tamil Nadu too got off to a poor start as left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind removed Kaushik Gandhi (15) and Laxmesha Suryaprakash (15).

Then Binny dismissed Baba Aparajith (1) to leave Tamil Nadu reeling at 33-3. But experienced wicket-keeper Karthik and Shankar provided a partnership of 70 runs for the fourth wicket to keep the danger away.

The partnership was flourishing till Shankar was run out for his personal score of 34.

Later, Mukund and Karthik ensured that no wicket falls as they hold the upper hand going into the second day.

Brief scores: Karnataka 88 all out (Manish Pandey 28; Ashwin Crist 6-31, T. Natarajan 3-18) vs Tamil Nadu 111-4 (Vijay Shankar 34, Dinesh Karthik 31 not out; Sreenath Aravind 2-14) at stumps on first day.

--IANS

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