Ranji Trophy 2022: Where Karnataka lost the plot

Karnataka team exited the KSCA Alur stadium on Thursday evening after being humbled by Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, dusk was settling in. The interplay between the elements resulted in a literal silver lining settling around a dark cloud as the team’s buses wended their way to the city. Sadly, there wasn’t much for Karnataka to take away from the match, barring the pacers’ performance in the first innings.

Karnataka ended the season without a title – they also made an appearance in the final of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and reached the quarterfinal of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, beaten both times by Tamil Nadu – thereby suggesting that it is time for introspection. While looking ahead is important, it is essential to look back at what went wrong, too. One of the core areas where there was a lacuna was leadership.

Manish Pandey is, without a doubt, one of the modern-day heroes of the state’s legacy. But recent performances have cast a cloud over his captaincy and his ability to bring and keep a team together. Individually on more than one occasion this season, especially in the Ranji quarterfinals, he failed to shoulder the responsibility as the senior-most batsman in the line-up.

His on-field communication with the team hasn’t been at its best; more importantly, his strategies have been questionable and he hasn’t been able to get players to toe the line. A case in point was the league match against Jammu and Kashmir in Chennai earlier in the season. After scoring 302 in the first innings, Karnataka did well to bowl out the opposition for 93.