Lucknow, Feb. 16 -- KL Rahul's batting blends classical elegance with modern adaptability, making him a dominant force across formats. He starts with an open stance, enabling fluid back-and-across movement. He transfers weight decisively, forward for drives, back for cuts while keeping a still head and bent knees for balance. All of this makes him a perfect man for his state Karnataka as well as Team India. Rahul's Ranji Trophy exploits this season, including a half-century against Punjab in the last league match for Karnataka and a century against domestic giants Mumbai in the quarter-finals, underlined his red-ball mastery. On Sunday too, he continued his fine run in the semi-final against Uttarakhand here along with skipper Devdutt Padikkal, who also smashed an unbeaten century. On a slow surface at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, temporarily the home ground for Uttarakhand, Rahul struck his 25th first-class century in style to give a sound start to eight-time champions Karnataka, who finished Day 1 of the five-day encounter at 355/2. Rahul's 141 in 211 was studded with 11 boundaries and five sixes. Though he survived two easy chances, including one at 45 when wicket-keeper Saurabh Rawat missed an easy stumping off Mishra, Rahul held the innings together with Padikkal, especially after an early departure of fellow opener Mayank Agarwal (5), who never looked settled in his 32-ball journey. The two added 278 for the second wicket, laying a solid foundation for Karnataka. In the company of Rahul, left-hander Padikkal, who had an unbeaten century against Punjab this season, also showed his might with yet another unbeaten hundred. Known for his elegant strokeplay, Padikkal let his willow do the talking in a free-flow manner, hitting 16 boundaries and two sixes. He, along with Karun Nair (37, 65b, 5x4, 1x6), added unbeaten 57 runs for the third wicket when stumps were called. For Uttarakhand, the decision to field first didn't work out well as their trump card Mayank Mishra, with 52 wickets to his name this season, struggled against Rahul and Padikkal who made good use of the slow nature of the wicket. Brief scores: Karnataka 355/2 in 90 overs (D Padikkal 148*, KL Rahul 141, K Nair 37*, A Rawat 2/73) vs Uttarakhand....