Karnataka bounced back into contention with a seven-wicket win over defending champion Mumbai in an Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament here on Saturday.
Opener R. Samarth (96 not out) showed patience and temperament on a tricky pitch to guide Karnataka to an emphatic win. Samarth and Rohan Kadam (44) added 95 runs for the opening wicket which laid the base for the victory.
Defending a modest 208, Mumbai needed to grab the half chances on a pitch which aided the slow bowlers. But, wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore missed a stumping off Tanush Kotian when Samarth was on 21 and Mumbai paid dearly for the lapse.
Unhurried
The Karnataka openers were unhurried and punished the odd bad delivery to build a match-winning stand.
Leg-spinner H. Solanki dismissed K.V. Siddharth (17) and Manish Pandey (5) in quick succession, but Karun Nair (39 not out) counter-attacked and along with Samarth, who played more fluently after reaching his fifty, ensured there were no further hiccups.
Earlier, Mumbai didn’t capitalise on the good start given by Yashasvi Jaiswal (61) and Armaan Jaffer (43) who added 95 for the opening wicket.
In the middle overs, the Karnataka spinners stifled the run-rate with their nagging line and the little turn on offer forced the batters to be cautious. Suryakumar Yadav flattered to deceive and Mumbai lost wickets regularly to end up with a modest score of 208 for nine.
At the Sports Hub, the Tamil Nadu juggernaut rolled on as it demolished Bengal by 146 runs to notch up its third successive win.
Tamil Nadu recovered from 55 for three to post a challenging total. Dinesh Karthik led the recovery with a typically busy innings of 87 and he figured in crucial stands with B. Indrajith (64) and J. Koushik (50). Shahrukh Khan’s (33) late flourish saw Tamil Nadu finish at 295 for eight.
Bengal was never in the hunt after losing opener Shreevats Goswami early. The spinners picked up wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs and the medium-pacers R. Silambambarasan (four for 28) and Sandeep Warrier (two for 30) returned to polish off the tail and complete a resounding win.
At the St. Xavier’s College ground, Baroda scored its first win by defeating Pondicherry by five wickets.
In Mumbai, Ram Dayal's brilliant unbeaten 116 (100b, 13x4, 4x6) went in vain as Jammu & Kashmir lost to Andhra by two wickets in Elite Group A on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 209, just managed to chase down the total in 49 overs, thanks to Rick Bhui's 56 (77b, 6x4) and Ambati Rayudu's 39 (28b, 3x4, 2x6).
