Deepak Hooda hundred revives Baroda

Baroda 320 for 8 (Hooda 142, Irfan 34, Mithun 3-75) v Karnataka
Scorecard

About a hundred people dotted the stands in Mysore and the crowd tripled by stumps as Baroda kept true to their promise of taking on Karnataka's might. Aditya Waghmode had talked up his "young guns" yesterday, and 19-year old Deepak Hooda displayed enough firepower to pull more fans in. The locals left happy having witnessed an arresting century and Karnataka mustering some late strikes.

Both teams spent the first few hours being as disciplined as they could. While Karnataka's seamers were steadfast in their pursuit of line and length, Baroda kept getting distracted with the urge to poke at the ball. That itch consumed Saurabh Wakaskar, their top-scorer of the season, Waghmode, their captain, and Hardik Pandya, their best batsman during a trying first session.

Forty-five for three became 52 for 4 when an ugly Yusuf Pathan pull - both in terms of execution and the match situation - found the keeper and captain CM Gautam's gloves. At this point, the hosts were barely missing Vinay Kumar, who had chosen to rest himself. Abhimanyu Mithun was key to that, using his height to derive extra bounce, a trick that he summoned as late as three overs to stumps and surprise Hooda, who was dismissed for 142 off 194 balls.

Hooda's innings had two distinct personalities. Karnataka's control, along with some early-morning assistance, demanded him to be stubborn at the start. Karnataka tiring, coupled with the pitch easing out, enabled him to showcase his confidence through high-impact bludgeons.

It also appears the teenager has the knack for a firefight. Hooda's graduation to first-class cricket happened after he averaged 78.33 at No. 6 in the Under-19 World Cup in the UAE, and he celebrated that with a century on debut from the same position.

On Wednesday, he mirrored Pandya's doggedness in a 41-run partnership for the fifth wicket, matched a busy Irfan Pathan, who was playing his 100th first-class match, during a pivotal sixth-wicket stand of 87 runs in 124 balls, constructed another 58 runs with Pinal Shah and bashed 48 of the 72 added by the eighth wicket with Swapnil Singh.

The arc between the sightscreen and square leg was Hooda's happy place. Abrar Kazi was coaxed over the straight boundary with a touch of class. It was the first ball of a new spell for the left-arm spinner and before he could recover, Hooda slugged one through long-on. Then came the encore - a one-handed slice that soared over long-off. Kazi finished the day with 49 off his nine overs. Shreyas Gopal was picked on in the 70th over with a six and a four as Hooda bounded to his second century in six matches by hoisting a full toss off the legspinner over his head.

Knowing his strength, biding his time to use it and backing himself to do so against one of the better attacks in the Ranji Trophy made Hooda's innings possible. His team-mates appreciated the effort with prolonged hoots as Hooda gave them an extra salute on reaching his hundred.

He had struck the picture of a drained and relieved man with his helmet off, bat raised and head down, but went six, four and six off consecutive Gopal deliveries to update his highest score in first-class cricket. His last 43 runs took only 29 balls to sign off a knock that had breathed life back into the match. Ironically, his wicket did the same, opening both teams to the possibility of an outright result.