Vijay Hazare Trophy | Clinical Karnataka crushes Rajasthan to book a spot in the knockouts

Karnataka proved it was equally proficient in defending totals as it was at chasing targets as it chalked out a 150-run win over Rajasthan to book a spot in the knockout round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament, at the Gujarat College ground, here on Tuesday.

The inform openers Mayank Agarwal (100, 109b, 9×4, 3×6) and Devdutt Padikkal (91, 82b, 12×4, 2×6) forged another century alliance as Karnataka cantered to 184 in 28.2 overs.

Padikkal missed out on his fifth century of the tournament as he was done in by a faster delivery by Manav Suthar when going for a cut.

Mayank, dropped at 50 by Aditya Rathore at the mid-wicket fence off Suthar, scored his second hundred of the tournament but holed out soon after reaching the landmark.

Karnataka then lost wickets regularly as Rajasthan came back to restrict the former. Rajasthan was never in the hunt after losing its top-order in the PowerPlay. Shreyas Gopal castled the dangerous Deepak Hooda for 29.

Karan Lamba attacked the spinners to score 55 but fell trying another big hit off left arm spinner Sreesha Achar. Prasidh Krishna (five for 36) returned to wipe out the lower order.

Sixes galore

Vishnu Vinod sledgehammered Pondicherry to take Kerala to an eight-wicket win and keep its knockout hopes alive. Vishnu batted like a man possessed to smash 14 sixes and 13 fours in his 84-ball unbeaten 162 as Kerala overhauled a target of 248 with 21 overs to spare. B. Aparajith remained unbeaten on 63 as he helped Vishnu add 222 for the second wicket.

Earlier, Pondicherry lost its last five wickets for just 16 runs as Kerala medium-pacers M.D. Nidheesh (four for 41) and Eden Apple Tom (two for 33) wreaked havoc.

Gurjapneet scalps six

Tamil Nadu clinched a much-needed win when it beat Tripura by 54 runs.

Medium-pacer Gurjapneet Singh (six for 26) was central to Tamil Nadu’s win as Tripura, chasing a target of 260, was dismissed for 205 in 42.4 overs.

Gurjapneet scuppered the chase by picking three wickets in his first spell before coming back to polish the tail in his second.

The scores:

Karnataka 324/7 in 50 overs (Mayank Agarwal 100, Devdutt Padikkal 91) bt Rajasthan 174 in 38 overs (Karan Lamba 55, Prasidh Krishna 5/36).

Pondicherry 247 in 47.4 overs (Ajay Rohera 53, Jashwanth Shreeram 57, M.D. Nidheesh 4/41) lost to Kerala 252/2 in 29 overs (B. Aparajith 63 n.o.), Vishnu Vinod 162 n.o.).

Tamil Nadu 259/6 in 50 overs (Andre Siddarth 70, B. Indrajith 48, S. Mohamed Ali 46) bt Tripura 205 in 42.4 overs (Tejasvi Jaiswal 45, Mura Singh 43, Gurjapneet Singh 6/26).

Madhya Pradesh 277 in 48.4 overs (Akshat Raghuwanshi 64, Shivang Kumar 67) lost to Jharkhand 278/8 in 47.4 overs (Shikar Mohan 103, Utkarsh Singh 56, Virat Singh 45).