Captain Devdutt Padikkal smashed his maiden double hundred in first-class cricket as a dominant Karnataka posted a mammoth 689/6, compounding Uttarakhand’s misery in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Lucknow on Monday.
Young Ravichandran Smaran too hit a fluent century, remaining unbeaten on 121,
a knock comprising 11 boundaries. Padikkal made 232, striking 29 fours and three maximums.
Resuming at overnight 355/2, Karnataka started the second day’s play from where they had left off on Sunday, with the duo of Padikkal and Karun Nair (60) stitching 129 for the third wicket.
Padikkal, who began the day on 148, continued to play confidently and reached his first-ever double century off 288 balls, with Smaran, arriving at the crease after Nair’s departure, also looking good at the other end.
However, having added 59 runs with Smaran, Padikkal tried to work a turning Lakshya Raichandani delivery towards fine-leg, only to edge it behind the stumps, bringing an an end to his long stay in the middle.
Brief scores: Karnataka 689/6 (Devdutt Padikkal 232, Ravichandran Smaran 121 batting) vs Uttarakhand. At Stumps, Day II.