Manish Pandey ambushed Arunachal Pradesh with a 46-ball 111 as Karnataka registered a thumping 146-win at the Barabati stadium on Sunday.
Chasing 227 to win, Arunachal lost wickets in a heap with opener Samarth Seth waging a lone battle. Seth hit six boundaries and a six but had no support from the other end.
He was run-out one shy of a deserving half-century with leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal snapping up a five-for as Arunachal was all out for the first time in three matches in Syed Mushtaq.
Read: As it happened
Earlier, openers Rohit Kadam and Mayank Agarwal got off to a brisk start after Manish Pandey won the toss and elected to bat. Kadam scored two boundaries off Sams Alam before Mayank Agarwal, playing his first match in Syed Mushtaq this season, took charge.
He opened his account with a powerful drive over mid-on before clobbering a length ball over the bowler's head for six. But having carved yet another boundary, Agarwal offered the simplest of chances to Song Tacho at mid-on much to the joy of seamer Akhilesh Sahani.
Three overs and 21 runs later, Karun Nair got a gentle half-tracker from Prateek Kataria, which found the sweet spot of Nair's bat only to land safely in the hands of Tana Davit; the lone fielder in the deep. Kadam soon followed suit as Arunachal kept its heavyweight opposition under eight runs an over in the first 10.
It was time for Pandey to step foot on the pedal and he did so in ruthless fashion, clobbering seven sixes and nine boundaries as off-spinners Techi Neri and Kshitiz Sharma bore the brunt of his willow.
Pandey reached his 100 off just 43 deliveries and together with R. Sharath, added a mammoth 137 for the fourth wicket. Arunachal bowled a few good balls, but they were interspersed with far too many loose ones and with Sharath too taking on the attacking mantle, Karnataka plundered 148 runs in the last 10 overs.
Bengal limps to victory
In another match, Bengal huffed and puffed to a three-wicket victory over Haryana. Set 142 to win, opener Shreevats Goswami hit three boundaries before falling to a brilliant diving catch by Chaitanya Bishnoi at mid-on.
Vivek Singh, at the other end, hammered three boundaries and two sixes as Bengal began solidly. Singh was caught in the deep off leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the seventh over.
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Skipper Manoj Tiwary then stitched together a partnership with Abhimanyu Easwaran but the latter's dismissal saw Bengal lose four wickets in quick succession before finally crossing the line in the 19th over.
Earlier, Tiwary won the toss and inserted Haryana in to bat. Himanshu Rana (60, 55b, 9x4) scored a fifty and Rahul Tewati struck a slew of lusty blows at the death to help Haryana to a modest total.
Ishan Porel, who replaced Sayan Ghosh in the XI, was the pick of the bowlers on his T20 debut for Bengal with three for 28.
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