Varun Aaron's career-best gives ROI Day 1 honours

Three fifties were scored on Day 1 of the Irani Cup, but the honours belonged to speedster Varun Aaron, who picked up a six-wicket haul to put Rest of India in a position of strength in their match against Ranji champions Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Bowling first on a track that had some help for the quick bowlers, Aaron made good use of it as he chipped away at regular intervals to keep the hosts on the back foot. While Mayank Agarwal (68), Karun Nair (59) and debutant Abhishek Reddy (54) went past the half-century mark, Aaron's 6/63 - his best figures in an innings in First-Class cricket - meant that Karnataka could only manage 244 in the first essay before being bowled out.

Apart from a century partnership for the fifth wicket between Nair and Reddy, ROI never allowed the Karnataka batsmen to get going as Aaron, complemented well by Rishi Dhawan (1/51) and Shardul Thakur (1/78), struck at regular intervals. Pragyan Ojha too had a role to play as he kept things tight and went on to pick up a couple of wickets towards the end of the day. It was also a day to remember for Naman Ojha, who picked up six catches behind the stumps to join Nayan Mongia at the top spot for most catches in an innings in the Irani Cup.

In reply, Vinay Kumar, playing his 100th First-Class game, gave Karnataka a dream start when Unmukt Chand shouldered arms to be bowled first ball. However, Jiwanjjot Singh (16) and Paras Dogra (4) ensured that there were no further damage as ROI ended the day at 20/1, trailing by 224 runs.

At the start of the day, Robin Uthappa and Agarwal started in a steady fashion to deny new-ball bowlers Thakur and Dhawan any breakthroughs.

However, Aaron's introduction in the eight over resulted in a wicket straightaway as Uthappa, attempting a loose drive, nicked the ball to the keeper. Aaron could have had one more in the 10th over, had it not been for Paras Dogra, who dropped R Samarth at third slip when the batsman was on one. Capitalizing on the miss, Samarth, as well as Agarwal, played some exquisite shots and started building a steady partnership. However, a lapse in concentration resulted in the dismissal of Samarth, who nicked a Dhawan delivery to Ojha to depart on 20 off 37, to end a partnership worth 43 runs. Agarwal went on to bring up his fifth First-Class fifty, even as the ball was changed three times (after overs 4 & 7 and in the 27th) as it went out of shape.

While Agarwal and Manish Pandey remained unbeaten to take Karnataka to90/2 at lunch, Aaron struck soon after the break to leave Karnataka in a spot of bother. Ojha picked up his third catch when Pandey went after a delivery outside off without moving his feet and ended up getting a nick to give Aaron a wicket in the first over after lunch.

Aaron thought he had Karun Nair, on zero, caught down the leg-side in the 35th over, only to see the umpire turn down his appeal. Replays suggested that it was a close call. The pace bowler though did not have to wait for too long for his third wicket. Looking to cut a shortish delivery that did not have much width, Agarwal got a thick edge to hand Naman Ojha another catch, which ended his stay for 174 minutes and 98 deliveries.

Debutant Abhishek Reddy started in a promising fashion and showed no nerves despite playing his maiden First-Class game. Reddy had scored four centuries for the Karnataka Under-23 team this season and his confidence showed in his stroke-making as he got going with a flurry of boundaries. He also got a reprieve in the 42nd over when he edged Dhawan to the keeper. The third umpire's help was sought to check if the bowler had overstepped, which he did, allowing Reddy to bat on. Reddy had another lucky break in the 44th over when he was put down by skipper Tiwary at second slip with Dhawan being the unlucky bowler again.

Meanwhile, Reddy and Nair raised a half-century stand off 86 balls when the former scored his sixth four in the 51st over off off Pragyan Ojha.

Manoj Tiwary rotated his bowlers, gave them attacking fields and tried different tactics to pick up a wicket or two before tea. However, Nair and Reddy were up to the task, mixing caution with aggression to help Karnataka to 194/4 at tea.

In the second over of the post-tea session, Nair registered a well-compiled half-century with a single off Thakur, and followed it up back-to-back fours off Aaron. The first boundary raised the century stand, which came off 162 balls. Reddy, who survived a close caught-behind shout in the 65th over off Shardul, went on to bring up his maiden First-Class fifty in the same over.

However, Shardul had the last laugh as he got Reddy to hand Ojha his fifth catch in the same over. Karnataka suffered further setbacks in the following over when Nair and Vinay fell to Aaron, giving the bowler his third five-wicket haul. Nair edged to Unmukt Chand at second slip, while skipper Vinay, was trapped in front on 6. Shreyas Gopal and Abhimanyu Mithun kept the bowlers at bay for a while, before the former was trapped in front by Pragyan Ojha in the 77th over. The left-arm spinner picked up another scalp in the same over when Sreenath Aravind edged one to Ojha. Mithun was the last to depart, out leg-before to Aaron on 11.