New Delhi: The star-studded Karnataka batting fell like nine pins in front of controlled swing bowling of Tamil Nadu medium pacer Aswin Crist, who sneered 6 for 31 to bowl them out for 88 in the Ranji Trophy quarter final at Visakhapatnam.
A lot was expected from the duo of KL Rahul and Karun Nair, who scored more than 500 runs between them in the last match against England. But the record-breaking triple centurion Karun Nair could only manage 14, coming in to bat at No. 6. His Team India colleague and the new poster boy of Indian cricket, KL Rahul was out for 4.
Rahul was the first to go, after Tamil Nadu won the toss and asked Karnataka to bat first. Fresh from a staggering 199 against England in the final Test match at Chennai, Rahul was done in by the movement of left-arm seamer Natarajan. The Karnataka innings never really took flight from then on as regular wickets halted their proceedings.
Another Team India batsman Manish Pandey appeared to hold things together when he was picked up by Aswin Crist for 28. The poor show by Karnataka was evident as Pandey’s 28 was the highest score in a disaster looking scorecard with names like Karun Nair, KL Rahul and Stuart Binny in it.
Underdogs Tamil Nadu, made full use of the juicy track lead by 22-year-old Aswin Crist. Pitted as the weaker team, Tamil Nadu performed against all odds to bowl out Karnataka for a mere 88 just after lunch.