Jaydev Unadkat was a delighted man after his bowlers subdued Karnataka on the opening day of this Ranji Trophy semifinal. The home side lost four for 30 in the first hour (nearly) and four for 26 in the last, to hand Saurashtra the upper hand on Thursday.
“We were a little uncertain about what to do if we won the toss. It was a good toss to lose. I’m satisfied with the way things went. There was a bit of moisture in the wicket in the morning. We bowled on an off-stump line and waited for them to make errors,” he said.
Unadkat was asked if Karnataka’s shot selection in the final session had surprised him. “I’d like to give credit to our bowlers for creating those chances,” he said.
“That was the result of one good hour of bowling (between tea and drinks).
“We didn’t give them runs, and played with their patience. Shots do look bad when they don’t come off. But that’s the way their batsmen played earlier too, when they were 30 for four.”
Sharath Srinivas, meanwhile, was pleased with his effort. The 23-year-old wicket-keeper has been in and out of the side this season, as Karnataka has alternated between him and B.R. Sharath, but given a chance here, he did not disappoint.
“It is a semifinal, a big stage, so it feels really good to be contributing for Karnataka,” he said.
“When Shreyas and I were batting, we were looking at a total of 300. The wicket got better to bat on and we did not want to throw our wickets away.”