Karun Nair, CM Gautam give Karnataka command

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Kolkata, December 18: Karnataka seized initiative against Vidarbha on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinals here on Monday (December 18).

Karun Nair (148 n.o., 261b, 20x4, 1x6) and CM Gautam (73, 125b, 8x4) played pivotal roles as Karnataka went into hut at close on 294 for eight. They now lead Vidarbha by 109 runs.

Karnataka started the morning session on a rather shaky note at 36 for three and needed some gutsy efforts to break away from Vidarbha. It came in the shape of the fourth wicket alliance between Karun and Gautam.

Gautam, who found himself in the familiar position of managing the crisis, did not disappoint on this occasion too, adding 139 runs that pushed Karnataka close to Vidarbha's total.

However, Karnataka lost Gautam at the stroke of lunch to Umesh Yadav and the wicket spurred Vidarbha. They approached the second session of the day with more vigour and snaffled quick wickets of Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham.

In fact, Karnataka lost those three wickets in the space of 24 runs and their lead stood at a mere 13 runs - a big chance for Vidarbha to bundle out Karnataka and comeback into the match.

But Karun and A Mithun, who took five wickets in Vidarbha's first innings, milked 27 runs for the eighth wicket to sustain the fight. After the dismissal of Mithun, Karun formed a precious stand of 69 runs with skipper R Vinay Kumar for the penulitmate wicket to take Karnataka further away from Vidarbha.