Bengaluru: For a third successive match across formats, talented young batter R Smaran scored a top-class century that helped Karnataka sign off with an honourable draw in their final Ranji Trophy Group C encounter against Haryana here on Sunday.

Resuming on overnight score of 108/3 and trailing a determined Haryana by 38 runs, Karnataka appeared in all sorts of trouble after they slipped to 129/5 within the opening hour as the impressive Anshul Kamboj ran roughshod with a sizzling first spell of 5-1-14-2 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The hustling Kamboj, the wrecker-in-chief in the first innings where his 4/32 gave Haryana the belief that they can go on to dominate a star-studded Karnataka, this time gave hope to his side that can indeed go on and win the contest that would give a huge fillip to their morale ahead of the quarterfinal clash coming weekend.

The 21-year-old Smaran, with just the bowlers to bat with, however had other plans. Riding high following a match-winning century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Vidarbha last month which was followed by career-defining 203 versus Punjab in the Ranji Trophy a little over a week ago, the elegant southpaw scored a superb 133 not out off 217 balls - his third first-class century - to not only bail Karnataka out but walk way with the reputation as the next big batting talent from the State enhanced.

"We have seen what he can do," Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal said after the match. "Yere sir (coach Yere Goud) was speaking about this last year. He said, he saw him in Under-23 and that if this guy gets runs, he gets into a good rhythm. He gets a lot of runs, irrespective of the format. You can see that by the decision making."

Despite being under the cosh, Smaran, cut from the old school of batting with his laidback style, didn't appear ruffled one bit even when Karnataka had fallen to 164/6. At that stage a defeat looked imminent for the eight-time champions but Smaran batted like a guy betraying his age, exhibiting excellent temperament.

Unlike some of his illustrious colleagues, his decision making was precise, judging almost every ball accurately. He always got himself into good positions, left the probing ones nicely and when a big shot had to be played to keep the scoreboard ticking, he did so with elegance that most left-handers exude.

While Smaran was undoubtedly the saviour for Karnataka, spinner Hardik Raj too deserves a word of praise for forging a face-saving 98-run stand with Smaran. The left-arm spinner supported Smaran well with gutsy batting, nicely mixing caution with aggression. As their partnership kept growing, Haryana's shoulders started to drop and draw looked like the only possibility. Eventually, both teams shook hands on the stroke of tea with Karnataka reaching 294/8.

Cut-off box - SCORE BOARD KARNATAKA (I Innings): 304 all out HARYANA (I Innings): 450 all out KARNATAKA (II Innings O/n: 108/3): Aneesh KV b Kamboj 4 (19b) Mayank Agarwal b Chahal 6 (20b 1x4) KL Rahul b Thakral 43 (67b 7x4) Devdutt Padikkal lbw Kamboj 43 (67b 6x4) R Smaran (not out) 133 (217b 14x4 2x6) KL Shrijith c Yuvraj b Kamboj 2 (8b) Yashovardhan Parantap lbw Jayant 12 (37b 1x4) Hardik Raj lbw Jayant 40 (78b 4x4) Prasidh Krishna c Dheeru b Thakral 1 (4b) V Koushik (not out) 1 (22b). Extras (B-6 LB-2 W-1) 9. TOTAL (for 8 wkts 89.5 overs) 294. Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Aneesh) 2-30 (Agarwal) 3-87 (Rahul) 4-127 (Padikkal) 5-129 (Shrijith) 6-164 (Parantap) 7-262 (Hardik) 8-267 (Prasidh). Bowling: Anshul Kamboj 16-4-40-3 Ajit Chahal 19-0-71-1 Anuj Thakral 18-1-70-2 Jayant Yadav 27-2-62-2 Nishant Sindhu 8-0-38-0 Lakshya Dalal 1-0-5-0 Dheeru Singh 0.5-0-0-0. Result: Match drawn. Points: Haryana: 3; Karnataka: 1. PoM: Nishant Sindhu Other Elite Group C brief scores: At Indore: Madhya Pradesh: 670/7 decl & 28/0 in 3 overs drew with Uttar Pradesh: (O/n: 404/2) 611 all out in 164 overs (Abhishek Goswami 186 Madhav Kaushik 80 Aryan Juyal 138 Aaditya Sharma 66 Saurabh Kumar 41; Saransh Jain 5-138 Kuldeep Sen 2-108 Sagar Solanki 2-124). Points: MP: 3; UP: 1.