Karnataka registers innings win to enter semi-finals

BENGALURU: Eight-time champion Karnataka dominated with both bat and ball as it thrashed Uttarakhand by an innings and 281 runs to enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy here on Friday.

Resuming at its overnight score of 106 for 3 after following on, Uttarakhand batters could add just 103 runs before being bowled out for 209 in 73.4 overs on the fourth day of the quarterfinal match. Swapnil Singh (51 off 100 balls) top-scored for Uttarakhand.

Shreyas Gopal turned out to be the star for Karnataka, as, after making an unbeaten 161 with the bat in his team’s first innings total of 606, he returned with figures of 3/26 in Uttarakhand’s second essay to claim the player-of-the-match honour.Besides Gopal, Vijaykumar Vyshak (3/55), Vidwath Kaverappa (2/30) and M Venkatesh (2/44) also chipped in with wickets.

Earlier, electing to bowl, Karnataka shone bright with the ball to bundle out Uttarakhand for a paltry 116 in its first innings. Right-arm pacer Venkatesh was the wrecker-in-chief then, claiming five wickets for 36 runs.

In reply, Karnataka batters made merry against Uttarakhand’s pedestrian bowling with Ravikumar Samarth (82), skippeer Mayank Agarwal (83), Devdutt Padikkal (69), Nikin Jose (62) all scoring half-centuries, besides Gopal’s unbeaten ton.

MP beats Andhra by 5 wickets

Riding on half-centuries from opener Yash Dubey and Rajat Patidar, defending champion Madhya Pradesh completed its remarkable fightback as it beat Andhra by five wickets to enter the semi-finals.

After conceding a big first innings lead of 151, MP bounced back on the third day on Thursday by skittling out Andhra for a mere 93 in 32.3 overs in the visiting side’s second innings.

Set a target of 245 to win the quarterfinal match, MP was 58 for no loss on Thursday and it knocked off the remaining 187 runs in 61 overs on Friday to win the match with a day to spare. The heroic efforts of Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari who batted one-handed in both its innings after a wrist injury went in vain as his team could not stop MP from reaching 245 for 5 in 77 overs.

BRIEF SCORES: Quarter-finals: Jharkhand 173 & 221 lost to Bengal 328 & 69/1 in 12.4 overs; Saurashtra 303 & 379 vs Punjab 431 & 52/2 in 23 overs; Uttarakhand 116 & 209 in 73.4 overs (S Singh 51, S Gopal 3/26, V Vyshak 3/55) vs Karnataka 606; Andhra 379 & 93 lost to Madhya Pradesh 228 & 245/5 in 77 overs (Y Dubey 58, R Patidar 55, S Sharma 40)