Uthappa propels Karnataka to victory

Robin Uthappa literally had his hands full. The Karnataka skipper opted to don the wicketkeeping gloves and dropped C.M. Gautam, who had earlier struggled behind the stumps

Robin Uthappa literally had his hands full. The Karnataka skipper opted to don the wicketkeeping gloves and dropped C.M. Gautam, who had earlier struggled behind the stumps.

And once the K.S. Subbiah Pillai Trophy tournament match against Hyderabad commenced at the Jain International Residential School Ground here on Friday, Uthappa ensured that he also fulfilled his primary task of batting, remarkably well.

Uthappa's 120 (99b, 11x4, 5x6) propelled Karnataka to 343 for seven in 50 overs and Hyderabad finished with 240 in 44 overs while its captain Ravi Teja's 110 (116b, 11x4, 2x6) went in vain. The 103-run victory gifted a bonus point and boosted Karnataka's tally to 13 while Hyderabad stayed at 12.

After Teja won the toss and elected to field, he watched Uthappa turn on the heat. Initially Uthappa missed a few but once he got his eye in, Hyderabad was resigned to a leather hunt.

Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal shared 58 runs for the first wicket and then Ganesh Satish (90) stepped in and played the supporting role while his captain scattered Anwar Khan, Ashish Reddy and the rest around the park.

More was to follow when Pragyan Ojha turned his arm over as Uthappa reverse swept and sent one soaring over long-on. Uthappa and Satish raised 144 runs for the second wicket and their efforts were amplified by cameos in the middle-order, though Amit Verma's powerful blow injured Stuart Binny at the non-striker's end. In the same over, Verma caned Ashish Reddy for five fours.

Later, the visitor's pursuit suffered a false start when Ronit More (five for 31) castled T. Suman and wickets kept tumbling while Teja essayed crisp shots. Along with B. Sandeep, Teja stitched a 94-run fifth-wicket partnership, and raced to his hundred with a six and a brace off Abhimanyu Mithun before the host snuffed out the visitor's innings.

In other matches, Tamil Nadu defeated Kerala by 61 runs and Y. Venugopala Rao (115 n.o.) and A.G. Pradeep (104) guided Andhra to a four-wicket victory over Goa, which had prospered on Rohit Asnodkar's 139.

The scores: Karnataka 343 for seven in 50 overs (Robin Uthappa 120, Ganesh Satish 90, Mayank Agarwal 29, Amit Verma 27, Stuart Binny 27 retired hurt) bt Hyderabad 240 in 44 overs (Ravi Teja 110, B. Sandeep 38, Ashish Reddy 29, Ronit More five for 31).

Tamil Nadu 284 for eight in 50 overs (Anirudha Srikkanth 82, Arun Karthik 56, Abhinav Mukund 43, Shri Vasudevadas 37, P. Prashanth three for 54) bt Kerala 223 in 48.3 overs (Robert Fernandez 86, V.A. Jagadesh 32, Rohan Prem 26, R. Jesuraj four for 29, C. Ganapathy four for 35).

Goa 383 for seven in 50 overs (Rohit Asnodkar 139, Reagan 68, Shadab Jakati 45 n.o., Amog Desai 42) lost to Andhra 385 for six in 48.4 overs (Y. Venugopala Rao 115 n.o., A.G. Pradeep 104, Syed Shahbuddin 66, D.B. Prashant Kumar 56, Ganesh Narvekar four for 56).