J&K in command despite Agarwal's fighting ton

Mayank Agarwal stroked an unbeaten 130, his 21st first-class century and the highest individual score in the match so far, but it was Aquib Nabi's spell on Day 3 which proved to be potentially title-defining. The seamer's three-wicket burst left Karnataka reeling at 220 for 5 in response to Jammu & Kashmir's first innings score of 584, and placed the hosts in a commanding position in their bid to lift their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

Earlier on Thursday, Jammu & Kashmir managed to add only 57 runs to their overnight score, in turn losing their last four wickets. Prasidh Krishna, operating with the old ball, did the early damage, striking twice in the first half an hour of play. Overnight batter Abid Mushtaq top-edged a pull to mid on, trying to fetch a bouncer from way outside off stump, bringing an end to the 78-run seventh-wicket alliance. Soon after, Nabi misread Prasidh's length and attempting to duck at a delivery that wasn't as short as he had expected, he put his bat out and edged to the 'keeper, handing the pacer a rewarding fifer for his impressive effort.

Lotra, however, continued to be a thorn. In the company of Yudhvir Singh Charak, he kept the Karnataka bowlers at bay for nearly 10 more overs. Initially after farming the strike, he was content to hand the responsibility to the No 10 batter to take the attack to the bowlers, Yudhvir used his power to good effect, clubbing Shreyas Gopal for a six over cow corner before finding a streaky boundary off Vidyadhar Patil. The ninth wicket pair added 30 more, before Lotra fell for the obvious short-ball ploy, holing out to the fielder at long leg, handing Vijaykumar Vyshak his first wicket of the innings.

With just the No 11 for company, Yudhvir took on the bowlers before getting run out while blindly trying to take a run with the ball in the hands of the mid on fielder, ensuring Karnataka got to bat in the opening session of Day 3.

KL Rahul and Mayank made a cautious start even as Nabi was impressive with his late movement. They waited for their opportunities to score, with deliveries that strayed a bit towards the leg side, or if there was a bit of width on offer. J&K's new-ball pair largely operated in tight channels, not allowing the batters to break free. Rahul did manufacture a couple of exquisite shots despite the tight bowling, and was quick on the singles with Mayank, but once he departed, the visitors seized momentum.

Rahul fell just before lunch trying to play across the line to a delivery from Nabi that straightened after pitching. It took a faint edge to the 'keeper, and even as the on-field umpire did not declare him out, J&K had the decision reversed with a review.

However, the game-changing spell came in the second session, when in a period of 12 deliveries, three in-form batters were sent back to the pavilion. Devdutt Padikkal, who had hit a couple of crisp shots till then, was out poking at a delivery on the offstump. The ball caught the edge of the bat and was pouched brilliantly by Abdul Samad at first slip. And then, Nabi came to tear through the heart of Karnataka's middle order. Two successive beautiful deliveries, that moved away just slightly had Karun Nair cleaned up and Smaran Ravichandran caught behind - both batters dismissed without scoring, and Karnataka down to 57 for 4.

With a tall mountain to climb, Karnataka's backs were firmly against the wall, but the conditions still had very little assistance for the bowlers. Even as Nabi was able to generate some movement, the slow nature of the surface didn't allow for much threat to the batters.

Mayank and Gopal steadied Karnataka's response with a 105-run stand before Yudhvir returned for another spell and sent the latter back, this time with a nip-backer that trapped Gopal in front of the stumps. The batter took a review, but to no avail. While J&K were largely impressive with the ball on unhelpful conditions, they overstepped 10 times - including four no-balls from spinners.

Even as the rest of the batters struggled, Mayank largely looked at ease and in control, especially against the spin duo of Abid Mushtaq and Sahil Lotra, and brought up his century just before Gopal's dismissal. He later went on to add another 58 runs in the company of Kruthik Krishna before stumps were taken.

Brief scores: Jammu & Kashmir 584 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88; Prasidh Krishna 5-98, Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-75) lead Karnataka 220/5 (Mayank Agarwal 130*; Auquib Nabi 3-32) by 364 runs