The ugliness of Paras Dogra's resistance

This may or may not be the last match of Paras Dogra's first-class career, but there was something Zinedine Zidane-esque in the way the Jammu & Kashmir skipper instantly turned around and charged towards KV Aneesh, Karnataka's substitute fielder stationed at silly point, and headbutted him. A moment of rage so uncontrolled that years of greying hair on the dusty grounds couldn't tame.

That single act sparked emotions on the field in ways the slowish track in Hubballi couldn't, saving the loudest cheer for the 5000-odd people assembled at the venue for the second day's play.

There was a setup to it. After braving 48 minutes of plays and misses against the second new ball, the unbeaten overnight pair of Abdul Samad and Shubham Pundir were readying themselves to take advantage of the slow surface. Just then, Karnataka struck in successive overs. Pundir flicked one straight to square leg, and Samad edged an away seaming delivery to the keeper.

The hosts finally had their tails up when Dogra walked out to resume his innings, one marred by pain on the opening day before he had retired hurt—pain from the ball hitting his body and a general inability to counter the bounce generated by Prasidh Krishna on a surface rapidly growing lifeless.

With a spring in their step, Karnataka pacers resumed the bouncer ploy against the J&K skipper. Dogra may only be the second batter in Ranji Trophy history to cross 10,000 runs, but for a good while, he looked a novice—the most uncomfortable batter against the rising delivery in the final so far. On Wednesday, much like the opening day, his defences were awkward and his attempts to counter-attack were just as ineffective against the bumpers. Even having recovered from Tuesday's body blows, Dogra still struggled to come to terms with the hosts' ploy.

Only 15 balls after arriving, he tentatively poked at a shortish delivery away from his body, and it raced away for a boundary. Despite the four runs, his discomfort was evident. Prasidh walked back to his mark with a smile and a shake of the head. But the 24-year-old substitute fielder, KV Aneesh, had some words for the senior batter. Clearly, Dogra's ego couldn't take it from a player not even in the XI.

With Karnataka's players quickly rushing to Aneesh's defense and confronting Dogra, it was obvious what the next few deliveries would bring. Another bouncer arrived, pacy enough to beat Dogra on a half-hearted pull, inviting loud, sarcastic applause from the opposition fielders.

The troubles against bouncers didn't end there. 101 balls later, while looking to evade a short-pitched delivery from Vijaykumar Vyshak, he took his eyes off the ball and was hit on the grille of his helmet. The ball rolled towards the stumps, and in a moment of panic, he nearly kicked the stumps trying to stop it. The bails didn't come off, and he survived—for a while.

Through it all, his troubles weren't just against short-pitched deliveries. He was often beaten by pace, with his feet not moving on attempts to drive and flick. For a good while, it was the kind of innings that, if played by a debutant, would've raised questions over his ability to handle first-class cricket. Not that of a veteran of 24 summers.

Irrespective of how much truth resided in Aneesh's sledge, it was evident Dogra—one of the greatest Ranji Trophy batters of all time—was the only batter in the side unable to cash in on a surface offering very little to bowlers outside the initial overs with the new ball.

For as difficult as that period seemed, Dogra braced through it with all the ugliness in his art. When the pacers tired out, he displayed his class against the spin duo of Shikhar Shetty and Shreyas Gopal, looking at complete ease and making up for the runs that had dried up from his end. As the innings progressed, he also started bringing out confident pulls against the pacers.

For as ugly as it may have been, Dogra bided his time in the middle, chewing up 166 balls, playing a strong hand in tiring out the Karnataka pacers, and adding 70 runs to the team's total.

Even on a day when batting didn't seem gainful for the first-class veteran, so out of sorts that it invited a junior cricketer from the opposition—born the year Dogra made his first-class debut—to sledge him, Dogra stood up and played his part. It wasn't his best day with the bat, but he made sure to put a value on his wicket, one that holds his team in good stead at the end of the second day's play.

Ironically, for all the ugly battles the battle-hardened Dogra put up during his stay, it was a clean defensive stroke off a spinner that brought about his downfall. The limits of his fight were tamed by an innocuous googly that hit the bat, backspun, and rolled onto the stumps.