Karnataka had two Gen-Next superstars of Indian cricket but a Tamil Nadu pace attack, with a cumulative experience of 35 matches, did the star turn to script a stunning seven-wicket victory inside two days in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final here on Saturday.
After 14 wickets tumbled on the first day, the second was no better with as many as 19 dismissals falling by the wayside.
Starting the day at 111 for 4, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 152, taking a lead of 64 runs. Karnataka were no better in their second essay as they were again all out for 150 with seamers Aswin Crist (1/50), Thangarasu Natarajan (3/40) and Krishnamoorthy Vignesh (4/53) sharing the spoils. While Rahul showed his class with a polished 77 with 13 boundaries, M Kaunian Abbas' 15 being the second highest score showed the plight of Karnataka batting.
A target of 87 was achieved in 19.3 overs with Dinesh Karthik, playing his 100th Ranji Trophy game, smashing 41 off 30 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Knowing well that survival on this seaming track is a difficult proposition with Tamil Nadu in trouble at 35 for 3, Karthik let Baba Indrajith hold one end up as he decided to take on the attack to the opposition camp and added the required 52 runs in 10 overs. He was severe on leggie Shreyash Gopal, clobbering him for 24 in 2.3 overs.
Add his contribution of 31 in the first innings, and Karthik is by far Tamil Nadu's most significant contributor in this victory.
It was a match in which the Tamil Nadu side, which has now learnt to live without Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay, outbowled a team comprising Kl Rahul and Karun Nair, who have been run-machines in domestic cricket.
On a green-top that once again exposed poor technique and application of domestic batsmen, 33 wickets fell with only 148.2 overs of play yielding a result.
One can attribute the abject surrender to green-top or poor application, but it was once again evident that India's regular domestic batsmen find it difficult to play on bowling friendly tracks.
That Rahul was a cut above rest was evident in the manner he handled Tamil Nadu's first innings hero Crist along with Vignesh and Natarajan.
When Rahul finally edged one to Karthik off Natarajan's bowling, he was the eighth Karnataka batsman to get out for a score of 130.
For Karnataka, the biggest disappointment was India internationals Manish Pandey, Stuart Binny and CM Gautham, who failed to score a single run.
Chennai Test triple centurion Karun came to bat as down as No 8, hit a couple of boundaries in his 12 before edging Vignesh to Karthik.
In the morning, Tamil Nadu lost their last six wickets for addition of 40 runs to be all out for 152.
Tanmay, Badrinath hit fifties
Raipur: Tanmay Agarwal (63 not out) and skipper S Badrinath (56) struck half-centuries each to take Hyderabad to 167 for three, still 128 runs adrift of Mumbai's 294, at stumps on day two of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash here on Saturday.
Tanmay and Badrinath rescued Hyderabad by adding 105 runs together for the third wicket after they were reduced to 30 for two at one stage with Abhishek Nayar (3/26) striking twice.
Nayar added another wicket to his kitty when he saw off Badrinath for a well made 56 off 137 deliveries, which was studded with nine boundaries and a six.
New batsman BP Sandeep played out 64 balls to remain unbeaten on 10.
At the close of play, Sandeep was giving company to Tanmay, whose unbeaten 63 came from 223 balls that included seven hits to the fence.
Earlier, Mumbai resumed on 250 for five but could add just 44 more runs to the overnight total, losing five wickets in the process. Siddesh lad, unbeaten on 101 overnight, added another nine runs to his personal score before getting out on 110, while Nayar added 13 before being dismissed for 59.
Hyderabad left-arm pacer Chama Milind finished with impressive figures of five for 80, his second successive five-wicket haul, while Mohammad Siraj (4/64) took four wickets.
Virat, Jaggi hit 50s
Vadodara: Virat Singh (81) and Ishank Jaggi (77) slammed unbeaten fifties as Jharkhand reached 228-3 in their second innings after dismissing Haryana for 258 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match here on Saturday.
Virat blasted 10 boundaries and a six in his 240-ball innings, while Jaggi hit 11 fours in his 149-ball stay at the Moti Bagh Stadium here. At stumps, Jharkhand were trailing by 30 runs with seven wickets in hand with two more days to go.
For Haryana, Harshal Patel (1/24), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/67) and Amit Mishra (1/62) were among wickets.
Resuming at 251-7, Haryana's first innings folded for 258 in 95.3 overs with S Nadeem returning with a seven-wicket haul, which included the wickets of overnight batsmen Sanjay Pahal (39) and Harshal Patel (22) this morning.
In reply to Haryana's first innings total, Jharkhand were dealt an early blow when opener Anand Singh was caught and bowled by Chahal in the 4th over.
Sumit Kumar (19) and Virat then tried to steady the innings and added 37 runs before the opener was dismissed by Mishra with wicket-keeper Nitin Saini doing a good work behind the stumps.
Skipper SS Tiwary (23) then joined Virat and the duo added another 36 runs when the left-handed batsman was caught by Rajat Paliwal off Patel's bowling.
Virat and Jaggi then shared an unconquered 146-run stand to take the team close to the 250-mark.