It was a tricky pitch not devilish but every now and then, it threw up some invariable bounce and something out of normal. A sort of pitch where it wasn’t easy to score runs and tough when you start off your innings. So when Karnataka slipped to 129 for 6 in their second innings, it seemed par for the course.

The mind started to throw up thoughts of how Cheteshwar Pujara would shape up in a chase of about 175. But soon, Shreyas Gopal stubbed out that hypothesis with a very measured and matured knock to take Karnataka to a strong position. They lead by 276 runs, and Gopal is still out there, having added 61 runs in almost two hours with Abhimanyu Mithun, who not only bowled well to restrict Saurashtra to 236 in the morning, but toughed it out there with the bat.

“He has always been a level-headed. He is taking responsibility more. He has got some crucial runs when we are in difficult situation when team needs the most. He has taken a step forward. He has taken responsibility and has also played according to situation. To get 50 in both the innings is amazing. Getting 50 over here in the second innings is like getting a hundred.”

It’s been a great couple of years for Gopal. He did well for Rajasthan Royals last year, and this year, he was made the vice captain of Karnataka. Someone who is a product of cricket system in the state: from school cricket, where his father was a constant presence in the matches, he graduated through academies and reached the U-19 stage. That was his first tough moment; adjusting to cricketing life beyond the u-19 days. “When I started to play U-25 cricket, that step up was the toughest stage in my career,” he had said once. From boys to men, but he stuck on, and as blossomed into a leg-spining all-rounder for Karnataka.

This second-innings fifty must rate as one of his best moments for the state. On a wearing pitch, after all the specialist batsmen had gone, he took responsibility and guided the lower order and took a well-earned dip in the swimming pool in the evening.

Before Gopal, Mayank Agarwal had established the base with his 46 runs. He survived a plausible lbw appeal off the left-arm seamer Chetan Sakaria who troubled him a bit with the ability to get the odd ball back in to the batsman. He also had Agarwal edging to slip where it was grassed. Agarwal was eventually bowled by a cracking ball from the left-arm spinner Dharamsinh Jadeja, which turned sharply from middle stump line to evade the prod and take out the off stump.