Gurkeerat Singh's valiant century went in vain as Karnataka humbled Punjab by 10 wickets to get seven points in their Group A Ranji Trophy match at KSCA Stadium here today.
Resuming at overnight score of 156 for five, Punjab's batting collapsed like house of cards after Gurkeerat and Gitansh Khera played a superb knock of 157 and 84, respectively.
The visitors folded their second innings at 361, which left Karnataka to chase a modest target of 31 runs to register an outright victory. Punjab had scored 174 all out in their first innings and Karnataka replied with a big total of 505 for nine declared.
The hosts chased down the motley target in just 4.5 overs with openers Mayank Agarwal and Lokesh Rahul remaining unbeaten on eight and 25, respectively.
Karnataka picked up six points for registering an outright victory and bonus one point for winning it with 10 wickets in hand.
With this win, Karnataka are now table-toppers with 26 points from six games, leaving Mumbai behind with 23 points in as many matches.
Earlier, Khera and Gurkeerat raised Punjab's hopes of unlikely draw as the two shared a 186-run stand for sixth wicket but once both were dismissed after striking 29 boundaries among them, Punjab began to drown.
Tailenders Manpreet Gony (14), who has one fifty under his belt in a first-class match, and Sandeep Sharma (11) could not offer any resistance as captain Vinay Kumar's pace broke the ominous Khera-Gurkeerat partnership.
Stuart Binny had Gurkeerat caught by Agarwal behind stumps, which triggered Punjab's lower-order collapse.
Punjab's misfortune, their tail didn't wag as HS Sharath and Binny ran through the lower order, which prompted Karnataka to chase a low target.
Brief Scores: Punjab 174 & 361 (Gurkeerat Singh 157, Gitansh Khera 84, Abhimanyu Mithun 3/59, HS Sharath 3/75) lost to Karnataka 505/9 dec & 33/0. Karnataka won by 10 wickets.
Points: Karnataka 7; Punjab 0.
