Gopal preserves Karnataka's unbeaten run

Baroda 335 (Hooda 142, Mithun 4-81) and 254 (Hooda 67, Swapnil 50, Aravind 3-37) drew against Karnataka 302 (Rahul 89, Swapnil 4-74) and 153 for 7 (Gopal 51*, Mangalorkar 4-54)
Scorecard

Ninety-seven for 5, 69 for 5, 83 for 5 and 50 for 6 today. It was almost as if Karnataka wanted to go into every fight with one hand tied behind their back. Their batting coach J Arunkumar said the dressing room was never bogged down by scorelines. The next batsman shrugged, strapped up and slugged hard. More often than not, that man has been CM Gautam or Shreyas Gopal. The same story unfolded in Mysore as another knockout punch was defused.

Amid screeches of either batsman's name, Baroda threatened again when Yusuf Pathan had Gautam stumped with seven overs left in the day. Instantly there were four men around the bat and a tired bowling attack was making its final play. However, it wasn't enough, as the hosts held on for a draw.

Gopal battled the relentless Baroda bowlers, enhanced by variable bounce and chirping close-in fielders. He dismissed the threat of a concentration lapse with each forward defensive push - front leg lunging, back knee kissing the pitch and the bottom hand flying off the handle whenever necessary. Gautam dug in stubbornly as well and a 235-ball, seventh wicket partnership that had begun by blunting Baroda's momentum, progressed to tire the bowlers and epitomised why Karnataka remain undefeated for 23 matches.

A stiff 288 off 65 overs might have been tempting, but KL Rahul was run-out without facing a ball. Robin Uthappa, who had called for that fatal single, drove casually again and was caught behind to complete a pair. R Samarth was bowled by a grubber as Baroda exploited Karnataka's handicap to perfection.

The weapon of choice was Sagar Mangalorkar, a 24-year old right-arm seamer who has modeled his action on James Anderson but idolises Shoaib Akhtar. He certainly is aggressive enough. Playing only his fourth first-class match, he got in Uthappa's face with double fist pumps and then provided the most arresting image of the day - him doing vigorous push-ups in the middle of the pitch after breaching Samarth's defence.

Baroda have been the better team, and have been rather quiet despite attracting a lot of lip from the locals. It was playful, of course. The Pathan brothers were constantly sought after and Yusuf and Irfan generously obliged, but when the largest crowd of the match raised their voices against the team, Baroda hollered back. Mangalorkar and Irfan Pathan, bowling 23 unchanged overs with only lunch in between, provided justification for that. Not to mention a stunning catch at short cover by Kedar Devdhar to ensure Abrar Kazi's promotion to No. 5 did not amount to much.

Manish Pandey, who had announced himself at this ground in the 2010 final, appeared comfortable. He concentrated on staying low and soldiered steadily on until he committed the mistake he strove quite hard not to. Poking away from his body and falling to a brilliant first spell from Mangalorkar - 12-3-29-4.

That Gopal kept that impulse at bay for 196 minutes until the safety of stumps further cements his rise as one of the best young players in the domestic circuit. He averages 89.20 with the bat and 32.27 with the ball this season, and matched his captain block for block by opening up after tea with some crisp drives through the off side.

Baroda's batsmen, though, needed a very differed approach at the start of the day. Swapnil Singh leapt down the track at Abhimanyu Mithun's first delivery with the second new ball and slammed it into the sightscreen. He manipulated the strike excellently with the tail and eased to his second first-class fifty. The momentum from that seeped into Baroda's bowling early on and the defending champions were reeling on the ropes. But they wouldn't fall.