Karnataka dished out a clinical show as they beat Andhra Pradesh by 53 runs in their Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.
Put into bat at the Alur cricket stadium near here in the 50-over tournament, Karnataka posted a respectable 278/7 on the board, riding on useful contributions from their frontline batsmen.
Later, their leggie Shreyas Gopal (4-48) spun a web around Andhra batsmen as the visitors folded up at 225, handing the hosts a comfortable 53-run victory.
Karnataka openers K L Rahul (33) and Devdutt Padikkal (44) gave their side a brisk start, putting up 68 runs for the opening wicket.
One down Karun Nair (24) could not convert his start, but then it was skipper Manish Pandey, who rallied the innings after both Padikkal and Nair fell in quick succession.
Pandey (50) made a patient half-century in 56 balls, with a lone four and a six to his credit. It was then a quick- fire, unbeaten 45 from 38 balls by their wicket-keeper B S Sharath and a blazing 34 off 16 balls by K Gowtham that ensured that they went past the 275-run mark. The duo put up a crucial 60-run stand for the seventh wicket.
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The chase was horrendous for Andhra as opener Ashwin Hebber was cleaned up by pacer M Prasidh Krishna (3-40) for a duck.
Then opener and wicket-keeper K S Bharat (38), who is eyeing a spot in the national team, and one-down D B Prashanth Kumar (78 off 104 balls) added 70 runs for the second wicket.
However, Bharat was trapped in the front by K Gowtham and from there on the Andhra collapse began.
No batsman except Prashant Kumar showed a fight as the others meekly surrendered to spinner Gopal. Eventually, Andhra innings folded up in 46.5 overs at 225.
After the win, Karnataka are topping the Elite Group A and B with 16 points, while Punjab (from B) stand second in the combined points table. Defending champions Mumbai are on the 12th spot and their chances of making to the play-offs appear bleak.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad defeated Goa by five wickets in another Elite Group A match, while Chhattisgarh, riding on slow left-arm orthodox bowler Sumit Ruikar's five-wicket haul, trounced Saurashtra by 65 runs at the Alur cricket stadium 1 near here.
Brief scores: Karnataka 278/7 (Manish Pandey 50, B R Sharath 45 not out; Ashwin Hebber 2-27) beat Andhra 225 all out (D B Prashanth Kumar 78, K S Bharat 38; Shreyas Gopal 4- 48) by 53 runs. Karnataka 4 points, Andhra 0 points.
Goa 122 all out (Amogh Desai 55, Amit Verma 29; B Sandeep 4- 13, Mohammed Siraj 4-20) lost to Hyderabad 126/5 (Tanmay Agarwal 66 not out, J Mallikarjun 30; Heramb Parab 1- 21) by five wickets. Hyderabad 4 points, Goa 0 points.
Chhattisgarh 246/8 (Amandeep Khare 53, Shashank Chandrakar 53; K D Patel 3-47) beat Saurashtra 181 all out (Shedlon Jackson 75, Arpit Vasavada 36; Sumit Ruikar 5-32) by 65 runs. Chhattisgarh 4 points, Saurashtra 0 points.