Only half an hour of play was possible on a frustrating day at the Gandhi Memorial Science College ground, and at the end of it, Karnataka had little to celebrate. Jammu & Kashmir sent back two touring batsmen in the the six overs that were bowled, drawing huge cheers from a small but vocal crowd. When play was called off due to bad light on the opening day of this Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, Karnataka was 14 for 2, with R. Samarth and Devdutt Padikkal the batsmen dismissed.
For a long time on Thursday, it seemed as if there would be no cricket played. The umpires were unimpressed with the overcast skies in the morning, and when it grew brighter after lunch, a light drizzle forced the covers back on. The toss finally took place at 2:40 p.m., when Karun Nair elected to bat first. Karnataka made two changes, dropping Shreyas Gopal for the left-arm spin of J. Suchith and bringing Manish Pandey in for Pavan Deshpande.
J & K's young new-ball pair struck early. In the third over of the innings, Aquib Nabi had Samarth squaring up, and Rashid held the thick edge behind the wicket. Padikkal, whose form has tailed off, was then caught at second slip driving Mujtaba Yousuf. K.V. Siddharth and Karun, who were at the crease when bad light forced the players to walk off at 3:35 p.m., have some rebuilding work to do on Friday.
The forecast for the rest of the week is better but in the unlikely event that both teams cannot complete their first innings in five days, J & K will go through by virtue of having posted more outright wins in the group stages.
The scores:
Karnataka -- 1st innings: R. Samarth c Rashid b Nabi 5, Devdutt Padikkal c Pundir b Mujtaba 2, Karun Nair (batting) 4, K.V. Siddharth (batting) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-2): 3; Total (for 2 wickets in 6 overs): 14.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-14.
J & K bowling: Nabi 3-1-6-1, Mujtaba 3-1-5-1.
Toss: Karnataka, who elected to bat