Patna: The four-day Ranji Trophy encounter between Bihar and Karnataka began on Saturday at Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, with Bihar struggling in their first innings, bowled out for 143. Karnataka responded by reaching 16 without loss at stumps, as the day’s play was cut short due to poor light.
Despite Bihar’s challenging innings, Sarman Nigrodh stood out with a resilient half-century, scoring 60 runs that included two stunning sixes off Shreyas Gopal and Mohsin Khan. His efforts earned cheers from the crowd as he briefly steadied the team’s innings.
After winning the toss, Karnataka opted to bowl first in this Pool C match. Bihar’s opening pair, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Sarman Nigrodh, started cautiously. Vaibhav opened with a boundary but was quickly dismissed LBW by Kaushik V, with only 4 runs to his name.
Babul Kumar followed, managing just 4 runs before he was caught by Mohsin Khan off Vijay Kumar Vyshak’s delivery. Sarman then paired with Sakibul Gani to stabilise the innings, but the partnership was short-lived as Vidyadhar Patil had Sakibul caught by substitute fielder Hardik Raj on the boundary.
The most promising stand came between Sarman and Bipin Saurabh, who added 44 valuable runs. Bipin looked set for a significant score but was dismissed on 31, caught by Manish Pandey at slip off Mohsin Khan’s bowling.
Raghavendra Pratap’s partnership with Sarman produced another 45 runs, during which Sarman completed his fifty. Raghavendra, however, fell for 16, bowled by Shreyas Gopal, and after Sarman’s dismissal, Bihar’s tail collapsed quickly. They finished with a modest total of 143.
Sarman’s 60 runs came off 143 balls, including six fours and two sixes. Other contributions were limited, with Sakibul scoring 13, Bipin 31, and Raghavendra 16. Himanshu Singh remained unbeaten on 5, while Anuj Raj and Sakib Hussain were out for ducks.
For Karnataka, Shreyas Gopal led the bowling attack with 4 wickets for 28 runs, while Mohsin Khan claimed 3 for 50. Kaushik V, Vijay Kumar Vyshak, and Vidyadhar Patil each chipped in with a wicket.
Karnataka’s openers, SJ Nikin Jose and SS Sathari, comfortably saw off three overs to end the day at 16 without loss. Nikin was on 11 and Sathari on 4 when play was called off due to bad light.
The match was inaugurated in the morning by Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, with Bihar’s Advocate General, PK Shahi, attending as the special guest.
