For 177 minutes, Paras Dogra waited in line to be the next batter in as Yawer Hassan and Shubham Pundir ground their way out nearly mid-way through in the post-Lunch session. Prasidh Krishna, who had bent his back and given enough load to his shoulders till then, got one to rise off the length and straighten, squaring up Hassan slightly and inducing an edge to the second slip.

Hassan, who had shouldered the burden of a steady start in the absence of the veteran Shubham Khajuriya, fell 12 short of a century, but had ensured the evasion of threats of the moving ball early on, leaving the visitors well placed at 157 for 2 mid-way into the second session's play.

The onus was now on Dogra, the veteran of 24 first-class seasons, to carry the charge of his side. At the other end, Prasidh was breathing fire on a slow surface that was holding up a bit - especially from back of the length - to induce some zip and bounce. He had started showing signs of it in his second spell itself, when he got one of the deliveries to shoot and hit Hassan around the chest region.

In his third spell, he was even more lethal, and Dogra who had spent ample time waiting for his turn to bat, wasn't up to the task. In order to counter the full length deliveries that weren't taking off adequately, he consistently plonked his front foot forward, and looked out of sorts when Prasidh and Vijaykumar Vyshak kept beating him on the bounce with their back of the length ploy.

One zipped in and hit him between the neck and the shoulder, forcing the physios to get to work with ice packs. It was so vicious that this time, unlike with Hassan, Prasidh - and the rest of the players around - quickly went to check on Dogra. After a brief treatment, Dogra recovered and resumed batting, but his stay continued to be more painful - figuratively and otherwise. Eventually, nearly half an hour after Tea, a delivery by Vyshak hit him close to his thumb, and as the physios checked on him, coach Ajay Sharma was seen waving his hand from the dressing room, instructing not to risk these body blows any further and retire himself, bringing a halt to Dogra's painful 48-ball stay in the middle.

If Dogra's innings was to cut a highlight reel, it would seem as if the Ranji Trophy final is being played on a spicy deck. And yet, Yawer Hassan, fresh off his maiden first-class half-century, wasn't fully pleased with the eventual score on the board at the end of first day's play - 284/2. Casually he pops out the first innings score that he believes would be ideal on the surface - "650-700"

The number might sound quite outrageous, especially for a team that has crossed 400 only once this entire season. It's the necessity of the occasion, Hassan believes. "Banana padega. Because the opposition's line up is quite strong. So if we have to dominate, we have to muster that many runs."

The audacity of the ambition aside it's also equally reflective of the confidence the players are carrying following the 771-run marathon show they put up against Himachal in Nadaun.

That confidence started to show with the arrival of Abdul Samad, the team's highest run-scorer this season, after Dogra retired hurt. When the Karnataka pacers went to push him on the backfoot with a short-pitch barrage, he was happy to take them on. Unlike Dogra, he brought out a confident pull as early as his 12th delivery in the middle. He missed that one, but that wasn't to bog him down. Two overs later, when Vidyadhar Patil tested him with a short delivery, he comfortably pulled the pacer in front of square. Three boundaries cracked off successive deliveries opened up an ego-battle between the two.

On a slowish surface with an old ball, Patil refused to relent. With three fielders deep on the legside, he continued with the short-pitched bait to Samad, who also refused to bog down to the challenge. He backed his pull shots, but was wise enough to control the flow of it, playing it on to the ground.

As Samad went on a rampage, Pundir too took up the challenge from the other end, attacking Shikhar Shetty's left-arm spin. The southpaw went down the track to smash the spinner for a six to move into his 80s. That collective assault, led by Samad, pushed Karnataka into a defensive mode. With as many as four fielders manning the boundary region, singles were easily on offer.

Both the batters were content with taking those easy runs, with rare displays of attack to ensure Karnataka don't move on to a different plan; one of which included a six over deep extra cover by Pundir to bring up his second century of the season.

With the pacers tiring themselves out, and not much aid available for the spinners on the day, it was worth wondering why Devdutt Padikkal was so confident after being asked to field; stating that he would've chosen to bowl too. The pacers were impressive, but having not challenged the stumps enough when there was help available early in the day, proved costly. Padikkal refused to take the second new ball when it was available, and handed the old ball to his spin duo for the rest of the day. In those seven overs, where a new ball could've been taken, Jammu & Kashmir added 30 more to their total to see through a clinical day at work.

"There still isn't enough runs on the board," Hassan said at the end of the day's play "But still, okay, a good score for Day 1. Maybe tomorrow if we can add 200-250 more, with some good partnerships, that would help."

There is still a day and half more remaining, according to Hassan before the spinners are expected to take on the primary role. It's a good opportunity for Jammu & Kashmir to prove their batters have the wherewithal to continue with the grind till then.

And most important among them would be Dogra - wounded but not out. The veteran batter may have looked out of sorts on a day when the rest of the young batters put their hands up, but the skipper - who hasn't reported any injury - will get his opportunity to make amends and prove once again, much like the opposition, that the start won't define the end.