Shreyas Gopal and Abhimanyu Mithun frustrate Saurashtra on seesawing day

Karnataka surged ahead after an up-and-down day in their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra, with Shreyas Gopal and Abhimanyu Mithun the unlikely batting heroes.

Karnataka ended the third day 237 for 8, stretching their lead to 276 runs. Shreyas, the top innings scorer for the second time in the match, was batting on composed 61, while Mithun had played an equally good hand to end the day batting on 35. Their stand of 61 has been the only half-century stand for Karnataka so far in their second innings. It has spanned 25.5 overs and 118 minutes, and the last hour of it must have been morale-sapping for Saurashtra.

If Saurashtra are to win this, they will have to make the highest score of the match to win, in the fourth innings. It's a daunting ask, but in their favour is the fact that they're fresh off a record chase in their quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh.

However, Karnataka will be more upbeat at the end of day three, given how well their bowlers did in the first innings and the fact that the pitch is far from easy to bat on. Uneven bounce has been in evidence, and the spinners have got the odd ball to grip and turn considerably. Moreover, the hosts will have got a considerable lift from how the last session went for them. K Gowtham fell to the first ball of the session, but thereafter Saurashtra had no success. When Karnataka were 176 for 8 with their lead 215, Saurashtra might have been hopeful of chasing something in the region of 230. However, Shreyas and Mithun ensured it wouldn't be quite as straightforward as that.

Shreyas didn't hesitate to skip down the track when the ball was given air, and was confident in going over the top. He was equally good square of the wicket on either side. Mithun for his part showed he wouldn't need to be shielded from the strike, dealing with the Saurashtra bowlers confidently.

Karnataka seemed to have conceded the upper hand after gaining it in the morning. Mithun took two wickets in his first over and Ronit More then finished off Saurashtra's innings at 236, giving Karnataka a 39-run first-innings lead.

They were building on that lead steadily and had reached 80 for 3 at lunch with Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey at the crease. Agarwal had started nervily, surviving a dropped catch in the eighth over, when he was on 11. Chetan Sakariya had troubled Agarwal in the first innings, and continued to bowl a searching line in the second. He was unlucky that a close lbw shout went against him - he had suffered the same in the first innings too - but he put that behind him to draw an edge that flew to Arpit Vasavada at first slip at knee height. The ball popped in and out.

Agarwal and Pandey both seemed to have settled thereafter, but Dharmendrasinh Jadeja broke the game open post lunch. He had Pandey pushing down the wrong line, not accounting for the drift, to be hit on the pad in line with off stump. Six overs later, he bowled a ripper to Agarwal that dipped, gripped and turned past his bat to cannon into the stumps. It was a dream dismissal for a left-arm spinner, and at 108 for 5 Karnataka looked very uncertain.

Jadeja would bowl a marathon spell of 23 overs - split by the lunch and tea intervals - and the wicket of Gowtham was his 50th of the season. But although he remained a constant threat, as did the rest of the bowlers for the first two sessions, the obduracy and sparkle of the ninth-wicket stand meant Karnataka had established a firm advantage in the match.