For a brief while around tea break on the final day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here, Karnataka players resembled a pack of moody school children who were denied their favourite toy.
Uttarakhand was 184 for six in pursuit of 827, an impossible target Karnataka had set in the morning. The latter, having secured the first-innings lead, was in no need of an outright win.
A handshake was initiated and out came the presentation flex boards, only for the umpires to turn into strict parents and not call off play.
The officials reckoned that Karnataka could force a victory, an act the eight-time champion was least interested in. This attitude showed in how player after player, both young and the experienced, had multiple exchanges with the on-field custodians.
It was only after 14 overs of action — rather inaction — in the final session that Karnataka’s passage to the summit clash against Jammu & Kashmir was confirmed.
For Uttarakhand, three batters scored second-innings half-centuries — Avneesh Sudha (66, 71b, 10×4), Saurabh Rawat (53 n.o., 114b, 4×4, 2×6) and Abhay Negi (57 n.o., 66b, 5×4, 3×6).
The unbeaten 104-run partnership between Saurabh and Abhay was a decorative bookend to the mountain State’s maiden run to the Ranji last-four.
For Karnataka, leggie Shreyas Gopal (three for 83) reached the 300-wicket milestone in First Class cricket, putting him in a select group of cricketers who have also scored 4,000 runs.
“It’s a special feeling to achieve it in the semifinals and it gives me a lot of confidence going into the title-contest,” said the 32-year-old, who has picked up 46 wickets and totalled 442 runs this campaign.
For the championship-decider in Hubballi against J & K starting on February 24, coach Yere Goud was hopeful of skipper Devdutt Padikkal’s recovery from a finger injury. The in-form 25-year-old neither batted on Thursday nor fielded.
“He had stitches yesterday [Wednesday] and as a precautionary measure he didn’t bat. By the time he does on the 23rd, he’ll probably be fine,” Goud said.
The scores: Karnataka — 1st innings: 736.
Uttarakhand — 1st innings: 233.
Karnataka — 2nd innings: Mayank Agarwal c Saurabh b Abhay 21, Kruthik Krishna lbw b Avneesh 52, Shreyas Gopal lbw b Mayank 0, Karun Nair c Suchith b Abhay 8, R. Smaran c Raichandani b Suchith 127, K.L. Rahul (not out) 86, Vidyadhar Patil c Aditya b Mayank 7, V. Vyshak st. Saurabh b Mayank 0, Shikhar Shetty b Mayank Mishra 7, Prasidh Krishna (run out) 0, Devdutt Padikkal (absent hurt); Extras (b-8, lb-2, nb-4, w-1): 15; Total (in 74.3 overs): 323.
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-40, 3-59, 4-122, 5-290, 6-299, 7-299, 8-316, 9-323.
Uttarakhand bowling: Abhay 19-9-63-2, Janmejay 9-0-54-0, Mayank 18-3-69-4, Avneesh 12-1-50-1, Suchith 12-0-59-1, Aditya 3.3-0-15-0, Raichandani 1-0-3-0.
Uttarakhand — 2nd innings: Bhupen Lalwani c Kruthik b Prasidh 15, Prashant Chopra c Kruthik b Vyshak 0, Avneesh Sudha c Rahul b Shreyas 66, Lakshya Raichandani c Kruthik b Prasidh 10, J. Suchith c sub b Shreyas 19, Saurabh Rawat (not out) 53, Kunal Chandela st. Kruthik b Shreyas 20, Abhay Negi (not out) 57; Extras (b-12, lb-2, w-6): 20; Total (for six wkts. in 62 overs): 260.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-48, 3-72, 4-107, 5-128, 6-156.
Karnataka bowling: Vidyadhar 4-0-13-0, Vyshak 4-0-22-1, Shikhar 25-1-97-0, Prasidh 6-1-17-2, Shreyas 19-1-83-3, Karun 2-0-9-0, Mayank 2-0-5-0.
Published – February 19, 2026 08:13 pm IST
