Ronit More and K. Gowtham claimed three wickets apiece as Karnataka bowlers’ united endeavour enabled the side to beat Rajasthan by 60 runs in an Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament at the CCFC ground on Wednesday.
Karnataka, inserted in, managed 208 and defended the modest total by wrapping up Rajasthan for 148.
Even though Karnataka tied with Assam on 24 points from six wins, it finished second because of losing its group encounter to the north-eastern side.
Karnataka will take on Jharkhand, which qualified as the 11th side despite losing to Vidarbha on Wednesday, in the pre-quarterfinals in Ahmedabad on November 26.
Group topper Assam, which beat Delhi by 25 runs, reached the quarterfinals, scheduled on November 28.
On a pitch offering unpredictable bounce, Karnataka lost two early wickets before Nikin Jose (67, 81b, 10x4) and Manish Pandey (21, 38b, 1x4, 1x6) added 62 runs. Nikin, who drove and cut well, formed another valuable partnership worth 37 runs with Shreyas Gopal (57, 72b, 6x4) before being bowled by left-arm seamer Aniket Choudhary.
Shreyas batted with responsibility to garner 39 with B.R. Sharath (24, 26b, 3x4).
However, Karnataka lost momentum as the Rajasthan bowlers tasted success frequently in spite of Deepak and Rahul Chahar’s absence.
Karnataka bowlers chose a good channel and got some purchase. V. Kaverappa provided the breakthrough by removing Abhijeet Tomar in the fifth over.
V. Koushik had Mahipal Lomror caught behind, while More made the ball to deviate slightly to castle Ashok Menaria and Aditya Garhwal.
A composed Yash Kothari (49, 81b, 5x4) and a determined Kunal Rathore (35 n.o., 56b, 2x4, 1x6) did some repair work by adding 43.
Rajasthan’s chase virtually ended when Koushik broke the stand by breaching Kothari’s defence.
Gowtham chipped in with three wickets as Rajasthan was all out in the 42nd over.
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