Karnataka recovered from its crushing nine-wicket loss to Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a win over Tripura on Thursday at the Alur Grounds, but the manner and the margin of victory would not have pleased the defending champion.
Riding on Devdutt Padikkal’s unbeaten 99 (67b, 9x4, 4x6), Karnataka made 167 for five, but let its opponent come within 11 runs of the victory target.
Tripura’s top-order failed, but Rajat Dey (44 n.o., 29b, 4x6) and skipper Mura Singh (61 n.o., 33b, 3x4, 5x6) almost pulled it off, with an 89-run partnership for the fifth wicket in just nine overs.
Earlier, after being put in, Karnataka paired Rohan Kadam (31, 23b) with Padikkal and saw the two score 62 for the opening wicket in 8.2 overs. But for them, every other batsman failed.
Skipper Karun Nair’s subdued run continued as he followed up scores of 27 and 13 with just 5 (10b). K.L. Shrijith and Aniruddha Joshi fell cheaply too, making 11 and 12 respectively.
However, Padikkal held one end up and batted through the innings to make up for his two below par outings in the first two games (18 and 19). On the day, Karnataka made three changes to the line-up, bringing in Shreyas Gopal, V. Koushik and Pravin Dubey in place of Pavan Deshpande, Ronit More and J. Suchith.
Karnataka will next meet Railways on Saturday.
