Rahul and Revanth blunt Karnataka’s late charge as Andhra and Karnataka draw in Ranji Trophy

Andhra and Karnataka played out a draw in their Ranji Trophy match at the ACA Stadium in Mulapadu near Vijayawada on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, after S.V. Rahul and Revanth Reddy batted out the closing overs to deny Karnataka a late victory.

Karnataka resumed the second innings at 176 for four but lost captain and first-innings centurion R. Smaran six runs later, leaving their lead at 38 before Karun Nair anchored the reply. Karun remained unbeaten on 155 off 242 balls (16 fours, 2 sixes) and guided Karnataka to a declaration at 337 for nine, setting Andhra a target of 194 from 45 overs.

Karun, 34, reached his 27th First Class century and fashioned his innings against a probing spell from Andhra’s spinners, arriving at his hundred in 157 balls and 150 in 232. The batsman frequently used paddle and reverse sweeps to counter the tight lines he faced in the morning.

Left-armer Lalith Mohan finished with five for 117 as he troubled several Karnataka batters; his victims included K.L. Shrijith, who was bowled, and Madhav Bajaj, who was stumped down the leg-side. Saurabh Kumar returned three for 85 and T. Vijay one for 75 in Karnataka’s second innings; Andhra’s bowling line for that innings read Saiteja 11-1-38-0, Sasikanth 2-1-4-0, Lalith 33-2-117-5, Saurabh 34-2-85-3, T. Vijay 22-1-75-1, Rasheed 1-0-2-0.

Karnataka twice threatened in Andhra’s chase, reducing the hosts to 18 for two and later 53 for four, but S.V. Rahul (not out 35, 85 balls, 5 fours) and Revanth Reddy (not out 20, 52 balls, 4 fours) occupied the crease for more than 18 overs and added 51 runs between them to blunt the attack. Andhra closed at 104 for four in 44 overs with Abhishek Reddy top-scoring with 29 (c Rahul b Madhav); Hemanth Reddy was lbw to Shikhar for 0, Shaik Rasheed made 7 (c Shrijith b Shikhar) and Ricky Bhui 12 (c Rahul b Ritesh); extras (lb-1) 1. Karnataka’s bowling in the second innings of the match read Madhav 15-4-32-1, Shikhar 17-7-32-2, Ritesh 10-2-28-1, Aneesh 1-0-9-0, Mayank 1-0-2-0.

Scorelines in the match were Karnataka 1st innings 274 in 82.2 overs; Andhra 1st innings 418 in 121.5 overs; Karnataka 2nd innings 337 for nine declared in 103 overs; Andhra 2nd innings 104 for four in 44 overs.

Andhra secured the three points for the first-innings lead while Karnataka took one point from the drawn game after pressing for a result.