Magical Padikkal guides Karnataka to 5-wicket win

Ishan Kishan’s whirlwind 39-ball 125 was eclipsed by Devdutt Padikkal’s 147 as defending champions Karnataka made a winning start to the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a five-wicket victory against Jharkhand, on Wednesday. In a high-scoring Group A match here on Wednesday, Karnataka romped home with 15 balls to spare in the pursuit of a mammoth run chase, making 413 for five.

However, Karnataka’s decision to field seemed to have backfired first when Kishan, who recently received a call-up in India’s squad for next year’s T20 World Cup, cut loose as he smashed 125 off a mere 39 balls, laced with seven boundaries and as many as 14 hits over the ropes.

Shikhar Mohan hit 44 runs up the order before Virat Singh (88) and Kumar Kushagra (63) shared quickfire 129 runs for the fourth wicket to set the base for Kishan to explode. The wicketkeeper-batter used the long handle to great effect to cut, pull and slap the ball in all parts of the ground to race to his century and help Jharkhand post a commanding 412 for nine. For Karnataka, left-arm medium pacer Abhilash Shetty picked up four wickets for 72 runs.

In reply, Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal (54 off 34) and Paddikal (147 off 118) got the chase off to a flying start, putting on 114 off just 11.5 overs. Agarwal’s innings was studded with 10 boundaries, while Paddikal hammered 10 fours and seven sixes. Karun Nair (29), Ravichandran Smaran (27) and Krishan Srijith (38) also made substantial contributions.

Towards the end, Abhinav Manohar (56 not out off 32) and Dhruv Prabhakar (40 not out off 22) smacked unbeaten 88 runs off just 41 balls for the sixth wicket to power Karnataka’s resounding win. Tamil Nadu shone bright both with the bat and the ball to beat Puducherry by 101 runs and get off their campaign on a rousing note.

Sent into bat, Pradosh Ranjan Paul (73), skipper Narayan Jagadeesan (67), Sai Sudharsan (48) and Baba Indrajith (42) came good with the bat to help Tamil Nadu post 310 for seven in their 50 overs. Later, left-arm fast bowler Gurjapneet Singh (4/32), Sonu Yadav (2/31), Sachin Rathi (2/46) and Sai Kishore (2/48) shared the wickets between them to bowl out Puducherry for 209 in 46.5 overs. For Puducherry, Neyan Shyam Kangayan (60) was the top-scorer. Dubey’s ton hands MP easy win over Rajasthan.

Opener Yash Dubey hit a fine century as Madhya Pradesh produced a clinical performance to beat Rajasthan by 99 runs in another Group A match here. Opting to bat, Madhya Pradesh rode on Dubey’s 103 off 132 balls which included seven fours, and useful contributions from Shubham Sharma (42 not out off 35), Harsh Gawli (35), Himanshu Mantri (30) and Saransh Jain (29 not out) to post 287 for 5.

Off-spinner Saransh (3/37), Kumar Kartikeya (2/43) and Aryan Pandey (2/28) shared the spoils between them to bundle out Rajasthan for 188 in 43.2 overs. For Rajasthan, wicketkeeper-batter Manender Singh top-scored with a 58-ball 60. Kerala register comfortable win over Tripura In another Group A match here, Baba Aparajith came out with an all-round effort to guide Kerala to a comfortable 145-run win over Tripura.

Aparajith smacked 102 off 62 balls with the help of nine fours and six hits over the fence to power Kerala to 348 for 8 after being asked to bat, and then returned impressive figures of 5 for 15 to help his side bowl Kerala out for 203 in 36.5 overs. Besides Aparajith, skipper Rohan Kunnummal struck 94 off 92 balls which included 11 boundaries and three sixes. For Tripura, Sridam Paul (67) was the top-scorer.