Visakhapatnam: Karnataka’s star-studded batting line-up, comprising the likes of K L Rahul and Karun Nair, collapsed spectacularly as the team folded for 88 against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash.
Pacers Aswin Crist and T Natarajan ran through Karnataka’s first innings, sharing nine wickets between them.
Nair (14) and Rahul (4), who belted a scintillating 303 not out and 199 respectively in the just-concluded home Test series against England, failed along with the rest of their teammates.
At the close of Day One, Tamil Nadu were sitting pretty with 111 for four, gaining a lead of 23 runs over Karnataka. Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav Mukund were batting on 31 and 3, respectively.
Rahul was first to go after he was caught by B Aparajith off Natarajan, when the scorecard read four. Karnataka lost their next four wickets after adding 57 runs. Kaunain Abbas, struggled to open an account.
