Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka crushes Baroda by six wickets

Karnataka earned its third win in the Elite Group B of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as it beat Baroda by six wickets on Sunday.

Representative Image: K. C. Cariappa (3/28), Pravin Dubey (2/31) and left-arm spinner J. Suchith plotted Baroda's downfall.

Karnataka rolled over a listless Baroda by six wickets to notch up its third win in Elite Group B of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Sports Hub here on Sunday.

After bundling out Baroda for a modest 176 on a spin-friendly track, Karnataka romped home in the 39th over for the loss of four wickets.

Karnataka was cruising at 136 for four when rain stopped play for half an hour. But a flurry of boundaries from K.V. Siddharth (46 not out) and S.Sharath (21 not out) after the restart saw Karnataka reach the revised target of 150 runs easily.

Earlier, in the morning the Karnataka spinners hounded the Baroda batters in the middle orders with their stifling accuracy to draw false strokes from them.

Off-spinner K. C. Cariappa with subtle variations in pace picked up three wickets (3/28) while leg spinner Pravin Dubey (2/31) and left-arm spinner J. Suchith, who bowled economically, were relentless as Baroda lost its way.

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However, things looked bright for Baroda when the openers - Kedar Devdhar (31) and Aditya Waghmode (27) - played risk-free cricket to add 59 runs for the first wicket. But medium-pacer V. Koushik dismissed both openers to set the stage for the spinners.

The Baroda spinners failed to get the same purchase from the pitch to trouble the Karnataka batters. The slow surface also blunted the effectiveness of the medium-pacers as openers R. Samarth (35) and Rohan Kadam (14) figured in a 44-run opening stand. The two quick runouts of Manish Pandey (19) and Karun Nair (0) were the only hiccups Karnataka suffered during its chase.

Pondicherry stunned Tamil Nadu by one run (VJD Method) at the St.Xavier's College ground.

Needing 205 for a win off 44 overs, Tamil Nadu fell agonisingly short as Pondicherry medium-pacer Sagar V. Trivedi bowled a splendid final over. Sagar conceded only seven runs and took the important wicket of M. Mohammed (17) to give his side its second win in the tournament.

The rain break hurt Tamil Nadu's momentum as the side collapsed from a comfortable score of 159 for three to 174 for seven. The Pondicherry medium pacers pulled things back with tight spells as Tamil Nadu contrived to lose the match.

At the KCA stadium, Murukumpuzha, Bengal crushed Mumbai by 67 runs via the VJD Method.