Karnataka edge out Railways, enter Vijay Hazare quarterfinals

Bengaluru, February 16: Karnataka survived a late order resurgence of Railways to register a 16-run victory on Friday (February 16) and qualify for the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

At Alur grounds, Karnataka made a below par 257 all out in 48.1 overs after batting by choice. Then their bowlers did a good job to bundled out Railways for 241 47.1 overs. Karun Nair led Karnataka in the absence of regular skipper R Vinay Kumar and the home side also did not have the service of opener KL Rahul, away on India duty in South Africa.

Karnataka: 257/all-out, 48.1 overs,
Railways: 241/all-out, 47.1 overs.

Karnataka win by 16 runs & qualify for the knock outs of #VijayHazareTrophy. #VHTrophy #KARvRAIL

— Karnataka Ranji Team (@RanjiKarnataka) February 16, 2018

Like he did on several occasions this domestic season, Mayank Agarwal anchored Karnataka innings with an 89 off 94 balls with 15 fours.

Pavan Deshpande (65, 67b, 9x4, 1x6) gave him excellent company for the fourt wicket stand that yielded 132 runs in little over 21 overs. At 173 for three in the 32nd over, Karnataka were in an excellent position to press for a bigger total.

But the dismissal of Agarwal sparked a collapse as Karnataka lost seven wickets for 84 runs.

Railways stuttered against Karnataka pacers M Prasidh and T Pradeep, who shared eight wickets among them equally, who reduced them to 54 for six in 12.4 overs.

Just as Karnataka were entertaining the hopes of a stroll. Railways offered some resistance through their tailenders.

Ankit Yadav and Anureet Singh, who made fifties, stitched together 91 runs for the seventh wicket to stem the rot. And the visitors found another partnership for the eighth wicket - 55 between Ankit Yadav and Avinash Yadav.

But pacers Prasidh and Ronit More ensure that Railways will not emerge winners with some quick strikes.