Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 21 (ANI): Having had a strong and lengthy relationship with Royals Sports Group-owned franchise Rajasthan Royals over the past few years, Karnataka's duo of stylish batter Karun Nair and mystery spinner KC Cariappa are back in the Royals camp for IPL 2022 and are looking forward to contributing to the team's success.

Chennai Feb 24 PTI India Test discard Karun Nair came up with a fighting unbeaten 152 as Karnataka scored 268 for 8 against Jammu Kashmir on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match here on ThursdayOpener Devdutt Padikkal 8 fall early to Mujtaba Yousuf 2 for 44 after Karnataka won the toss and elected to bat Nair 267 balls 21 fours 1 six and the other opening batter Ravikumar Samarth 45 5 fours then added 98 runs for the second wicket to steady the inningsK V Siddharth who hit a century in the opening match against Railways helped Nair add 56 runs for the third wicketNair grew in confidence and was on the lookout for runs However the dismissal of Siddharth sparked a mini collapse as Karnataka slipped from 164 for 2 to 190 for 190 for 5 and then 209 for 7 after losing Shreyas Gopal 7 and K Gowtham 2 to the veteran spinner Parvez Rasool 2 for 51Nair kept scoring runs even as he kept losing partners but he found an able ally in Ronit More who made 23 from 59 balls and was involved in a vital 59-run partnership for the eighth wicketMore who batted resolutely fell LBW to Yousuf off the final delivery of the dayThe 30-year Karun Nair holds the key if Karnataka has to reach a total of 300 in the first inningsIn the other match in the group Pondicherry ended the opening day at 284 for 5 riding on veteran Paras Dogras unbeaten 207 168 balls 10 fours 1 six Brief scores Stumps Day 1 Karnataka 268 for eight in 90 overs R Samarth 45 Karun Nair 152 batting 267b 21x4 1x6 Mujtaba Yousuf two for 44 Umran Malik two for 35 Parvez Rasool two for 51 Jammu and KashmirPondicherry 284 for five in 89 overs Neyan Shyam Kangayan 49 No4 Paras Dogra 107 batting 168b 10x4 1x6 D Rohit 41 Rahul Sharma three for 50 vs Railways PTI SS ATK ATK