Unbeaten in the group stages, Karnataka faltered when it mattered most to crash out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a seven-wicket defeat to Baroda in the quarterfinals at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday.
Kedar Devdhar and Krunal Pandya scored half-centuries and added 92 runs for the second wicket as Baroda chased down 234 with 25 balls to spare.
Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode put on 64 for the opening wicket before S. Arvind sent the latter packing for 26. That brought out Pandya, and he wasted no time wresting the initiative.
Pandya and Devdhar played sensible cricket, going aerial with the loose balls and rotating the strike. While Devdhar scored most of his runs on the leg-side, including two sixes — off Arvind and Pavan Deshpande — Pandya preferred to stick to the ‘V’ in front, scoring most of his boundaries and his lone six, off J. Suchith, in that area.
Devdhar was bowled by Suchith for 78, with Baroda still 77 runs behind.
That did not stop Pandya from going for his shots, with an equally attacking Deepak Hooda for company. Arvind got him caught behind for 70 in the 41st over. Hooda and Yusuf Pathan completed the formalities five overs later.
Apart from a 64-run opening stand between Robin Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal, and one for 87 runs from R. Samarth and Pavan Deshpande, there was little of note in Karnataka’s innings.
Three run-outs did not help either.
The scores: Karnataka: Robin Uthappa c Tai b Meriwala 24, Mayank Agarwal lbw b Sheth 40, R. Samath c Swapnil b Pandya 44, Manish Pandey run out 10, Pavan Deshpande run out 54, Stuart Binny st Shah b Swapnil 4, Aniruddha Joshi b Pandya 18, J. Suchith c & b Pandya 18, R. Vinay Kumar run out 10, S. Arvind b Irfan 2, M. Prasidh Krishna (not out) 2, Extras (nb-1, w-2, lb-4) 7; Total (in 48.5 overs) 233.
Fall of wickets: 1-64, 2-70, 3-83, 4-170, 5-182, 6-188, 7-215, 8-221, 9-230.
Baroda bowling: Irfan Pathan 8.5-0-39-1, Atit Sheth 10-0-55-1, Lukman Meriwala 6-0-16-1, Soaeb Tai 4-0-29-0, Swapnil Singh 10-1-40-1, Yusuf Pathan 4-0-18-0, Krunal Pandya 6-0-32-3.
Baroda: Kedar Devdhar b Suchith 78, Aditya Waghmode c Joshi b Arvind 26, Krunal Pandya c Uthappa b Arvind 70, Deepak Hooda (not out) 33, Yusuf Pathan (not out) 11, Extras (nb-1, w-7, lb-8) 16; Total (for three wickets in 45.5 overs) 234.
Fall of wickets: 1-64, 2-156, 3-203.
Karnataka bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 7-0-31-0, M. Prasidh Krishna 7.5-0-37-0, Stuart Binny 5-0-20-0, S. Arvind 7-0-42-2, Suchith 9-0-48-0, Pavan Deshpande 7-0-36-0, Aniruddha Joshi 3-0-12-0.
Toss: Baroda
Baroda won by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare .
