Mumbai, Nov 17: Karnataka scored 319 for the loss of five wickets on the first day of the Elite Ranji Trophy encounter against Mumbai at the Brabourne stadium.

Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla claimed two wickets for Mumbai in the last session and was the most successful in terms of picking wickets, while Manish Pandey hit a century for Karnataka before retiring hurt.

Excerpts from post-match interactions with the cricketers of the day:

Iqbal Abdulla

On whether the arm ball was his biggest strength

[You] have to bowl according to the wicket. There is not that much turn in the wicket so [I] keep bowling slow balls and then bowl that [the arm ball] in between. It is quite effective if there is no turn [in the pitch]. It can be effective if it hits the pad. The arm ball is a surprise ball in the flight; if the ball is coming in and hitting the pads, then there are chances of [an] lbw [dismissal].

On his approach to bowling on a batting track

No matter how the wicket is you have to try and contain the [batsmen]. If the runs are coming easily then [you have to] try to ensure that there are not too many boundaries.

On variations in length

It depends on the wicket, what and how you do. This is a slow wicket so the ball is coming on easily. I try to bowl the right length as much as possible.

Manish Pandey

On his knock

It’s my first century of the season so it felt good. It’s a good batting wicket and we have [319 runs] on the board and we have wickets in hand. Three batsmen and three bowlers are still to bat so we will look to post around 450 runs and hope for the best; after that let the bowlers do their job. It’s always good to score runs against a good side. [They have some] really good bowlers. Ajit [Agarkar] was back for them so it gives you confidence and a lot of boost. I’ll look to bat again tomorrow, start from zero and look to get more runs.

On why he retired hurt

I decided to retire because I was cramping because of dehydration.

On getting big scores

When you convert [your starts] to big scores [like] 150 [runs], that counts a lot. I have to make the decision now to [convert] 60s and 70s to big scores and make a good name and play for India as soon as possible.

On whether the conditions were challenging

It looks like a batting wicket, a nice batting track. Robin [Uthappa] got a good start and even Ganesh [Satish] got good runs. It depends on the batsman; you get out only if you commit a mistake. […] We’ll look to post good runs.

On the wicket

It’s a nice wicket to bat on. Another 150 runs with all the batsman that we have is a good target. But it’s a very beautifully prepared wicket; the ball is bouncing. This is our third game; the first and second wickets were pretty low but this wicket is really good and it is coming on really well. Iqbal [Abdulla] and Ramesh [Power] were getting a little bounce off the wicket. It was bouncing for the spinners so [it’s a] great wicket to bat on.

On whether the pitch would be helpful to KP Appanna

[Appanna] has been bowling really well. It’s about bowling in the right areas so if he keeps doing that, he will get wickets tomorrow.