With their first loss after 34 Ranji Trophy games, defending champions Karnataka were knocked out of this season’s knockouts by Maharashtra, in a closely fought encounter in Pune. Needing 232 runs on the final day to win, Karnataka were able to add only 171 runs, to suffer a 53-run loss. Seamers Nikit Dhumal and Anupam Sanklecha took nine wickets between them to thwart the batting resistance led by the in-form Robin Uthappa and wicketkeeper C. M. Gautam, both of whom scored half-centuries.
Resuming at 61 for 1, Karnataka lost opener Mayank Agarwal in the third over of the day by Sanklecha, and new batsman Manish Pandey was dismissed for a duck off the next over, by Shrikant Mundhe, to leave them fumbling at 74 for 3. Uthappa struck useful stands with Shreyas Gopal and Gautam, before Gautam and Vinay Kumar put on 49, the highest partnership of the innings, for the seventh wicket. All this while, Dhumal and Sanklecha had been chipping away. Vinay’s dismissal exposed the tail, which was washed away without much delay by the two bowlers.
Maharashtra, who were already out of the reckoning, gained six points to finish seventh in the Group A table. Karnataka finished fifth.
Vidarbha top table
Vidarbha completed an innings victory against Haryana to top the table. Having forced Haryana to follow on on the third day, they took out the remaining eight wickets on the final day thanks to a seven-for from left-arm spinner Ravi Jangid. 22-year old Rohit Sharma scored 107 out of 232, and received some support from No. 3 Mohit Hooda, for a 48, and virtually none from others. Jangid finished with 11 wickets in the match.
Group A
>Maharashtra vs Karnataka in Pune
>Vidarbha vs Haryana in Nagpur>
Group B
>Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra in Indore>
>Uttar Pradesh vs Baroda in Greater Noida
Group C
>Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh in Mallapuram
>Tripura vs Services in Agartala
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