An unfinished seventh wicket stand of 119 between keeper Tilak Naidu (84) and all-rounder Sunil Joshi (36) helped Karnataka reach a comfortable 301 for 6 against Haryana on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'A' encounter in Mysore on Friday.
Hard-hitting opener Robin Uthappa (56, 10x4) and C Raghu (62, 8x4) were the other notable scorers for Karnataka, while Haryana medium pacer Joginder Sharma, who rattled the hosts in the morning with a two-wicket burst, returned with a haul of 3 for 73.
Skipper Yere Goud, playing for his home state after a gap of 13 years, won the toss and elected to bat.
Joginder struck telling blows, dismissing opener Rowland Barrington and Bharat Chipli to reduce Karnataka to two for 35.
However, Robin and Raghu added an invaluable 109 for the third wicket to consolidate the Karnataka innings.
Three quick wickets at this stage, with Sunny Singh dismissing Robin, Joginder trapping Raghu, and Sumit Sharma sending back Goud with a brilliant throw, pushed Karnataka to a corner.
However, Tilak and Joshi resurrected the hosts' innings by taking the score past the 300 mark. The duo added 119 runs in 170 balls, staying together for exactly two hours so far.
Scorecard
Karnataka (1st innings):
R Uthappa lbw b Sunny Singh 56
B Rowland c Shafiq Khan b Joginder Sharma
B Chipli lbw b Joginder Sharma 0
C Raghu lbw b Joginder Sharma 62
YT Goud run out (Sumit Sharma) 16
VT Naidu not out 84
B Akhil lbw b Mishra 3
S Joshi not out 36
Extras: (b 8, lb 12, w 1, nb 21) 42
Total: (6 wickets; 87 overs) 301
To bat: N Aiyappa, K Appanna, Vinay Kumar.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-35, 3-85, 4-149, 5-166, 6-182.
Bowling: Joginder Sharma 25-6-73-3, S Rana 16-1-49-0, S Budhwar 10-0-32-0, Sunny Singh 10-2-31-1, A Mishra 19-3-47-1, G Vashisht 10-2-49-0.