Ranji Trophy: Karnataka win by the skin of their teeth

Phew!’ That was Karnataka coach PV Shashikanth’s tone over the phone with DH when he was asked to describe his side’s final passage of play against Railways on Sunday.

Karnataka, down for the count, relied on Manish Pandey’s experience to get away by the skin of their teeth in the dying minutes of the third day of their Group C Ranji Trophy match at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.

Manish’s atypical 121-ball 67 not out and a now-normal cameo of invaluable significance from Vyshak Vijaykumar at No.9 meant Karnataka would eke out a one-wicket victory and pick up six points to top the table with 21 points from five games.

Generally speaking, that position is not bad for a side in a transition, but the state of flux within the team was plenty apparent on the field.

Having bowled Railways out for 244, courtesy Vijaykumar’s third first-class fifer, Nikin Jose’s men were set a target of 226 runs.

As a standalone number, it seemed fairly straightforward. Karnataka, however, have not had the best of runs as batting unit of late. Even in the first innings, they managed a mediocre 174 in response to Railways’ 155.