Karnataka eight-wicket win over Kerala

Devdutt Padikkal slammed his second consecutive ton, while Karun Nair also scored a run-a-ball century to guide defending champions Karnataka to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Kerala in their second Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy ODI tournament here on Friday.

Karnataka, who defeated Jharkhand in their tournament opener on Wednesday, elected to field after winning the toss and restricted Kerala to 284 for 7. Kerala didn’t have the best of starts, losing their first three wickets at the score of 49 before Baba Aparajith (71 off 62) and wicket-keeper Mohammed Azharuddeen (84 off 58) made substantial contributions to take their side to the total.

Left-arm medium pace Abhilash Shetty (3/59) picked up two wickets, while Shreyas Gopal accounted for 2/61 for Karnataka. In reply, Karnataka lost skipper Mayank Agarwal early before last match centurion Padikkal and Nair stitched match-winning 223 runs for the second wicket off 234 balls to set the base for the chase, which the title holders achieved in 48.2 overs.

In-form MP register second consecutive win

Madhya Pradesh defeated Tamil Nadu by two wickets in a close encounter to jump to the top of Group A here with two wins from as many matches. Electing to bat first, Sai Sudharsan (51) and skipper Narayan Jagadeesan (55) shared 115 runs for the opening wicket. Mohamed Ali (57) and Sunny Sandhu (43) also played good hands to take Tamil Nadu to 280 all out in 49.3 overs.

Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya (3/62), right-arm medium pacer Tripuresh Singh (2/61) and left-arm pacer Mangesh Yadav (2/45) were the main wicket-takers for Madhya Pradesh. In reply, in-form Yash Dubey (92 off 109) and wicket-keeper Himanshu Mantri (90 off 94) stitched match-winning 178 runs for the second wicket to register the win with four balls to spare, reaching 283 for 8.

Jharkhand hand Rajasthan second defeat on trot

Overcoming from the unexpected loss at the hands of Karnataka in their opener, Jharkhand bounced back strongly to beat Rajasthan by 73 runs and earn their first points in the group.  Sent into bat, Jharkhand rode on opener Shikhar Mohan’s 118-ball 129 and middle-order batter Anukul Roy’s 43-ball 52 to post 301, a target which they defended with ease despite Karan Lamba’s single effort of 102 as Rajasthan were bowled out for 228 in 50 overs.

Tripura register handsome win over Puducherry

Tripura defeated Puducherry handsomely by seven wickets to register their first win in the tournament.  Electing to bat, Puducherry were bundled out for 150, a target which Tripura rode on skipper Udiyan Bose’s 53 and Vijay Shankar’s unbeaten 47 to romp home in 32.3 overs.

Brief scores:

Kerala: 284 for 7 in 50 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 84, Baba Aparajith 71; Abhilash Shetty 3/59) lose to Karnataka 285 for 2 in 48.2 overs (Karun Nair 130 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 124) by 8 wickets.

Tamil Nadu: 280 all out in 49.3 overs (Mohamed Ali 57, Narayan Jagadeesan 55, Sai Sudharsan 51; Kumar Kartikeya 3/62) lost to Madhya Pradesh 283 for 8 in 49.2 overs (Yash Dubey 92, Himanshu Mantri 90; Govinth Ganesh 4/54) by 2 wickets.

Jharkhand: 301 in 50 overs (Shikhar Mohan 129, Anukul Roy 52; Khaleel Ahmed 4/49) win by 73 runs against Rajasthan 228 all out in 50 overs (Karan Lamba 102; Shubham Singh 6/50).

Puducherry: 150 all out in 41.3 overs (Jayant Yadav 51; Viki Saha 3/23) lost to Tripura 151 for 3 in 32.3 overs (Udiyan Bose 53, Vijay Shankar 47 not out; Sagar Udeshi 2/16).