Vijay Hazare Trophy: Anmol, Kaul help Punjab rout Karnataka

Bengaluru, October 8: Powered by a splendid century by opener Anmolpreet Singh following a fifer by Siddharth Kaul, Punjab trounced Karnataka by six wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday (October 8).

After bundling out Karnataka for a stiff 296, courtesy a five-wicket haul by pacer Siddharth Kaul, it was Anmolpreet who stole the show with a pulverising knock of 138 in the elite group A tie at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Kaul wreaked havoc to return with fine figures of 5-41 and his scalps included Karun Nair, Kaunain Abbas, Shreyas Gopal, Aniruddha and T Pradeep.

The speedster was complimented well by Barinder Singh Sran (3-48), while veteran Yuvraj Singh and young leggie Mayank Markande picked up a wicket each. For Karnataka, wicket-keeper-batsman B R Sharath top scored with 70, while skipper Manish Pandey (67), R Samarth (54) and Shreyas Gopal (37) also made noteworthy contributions.

But for Punjab, the chase was a walk in the park, with 20-year-old Anmolpreet scoring a blazing 138 off just 106 balls. He also put on a huge 198-run stand for the opening wicket with Shubman Gill (77). Anmolpreet, a right-handed batsman, smashed 12 fours and five other hits over the fence, while Gill struck seven fours and a six.

The two hammered a listless Karnataka attack led by Abhimanyu Mithun. After the two openers departed, Yuvraj Singh (38) and skipper Mandeep Singh (30) also played their part to perfection, but fell when the team was cruising towards the victory. However, Punjab romped home with seven balls to spare.

At the other two Elite Group A games held in neighbouring Alur, in a low-scoring thriller Vidarbha defeated Goa by 1 run, while Maharashtra defeated Baroda by five wickets. The quarter-finals for the tournament will start on October 14, with the semi-finals on October 17 and 18 and the final on Saturday October 20, all scheduled in Bengaluru.

As per the standings, Mumbai with 28 points has topped Elite A and B followed by Delhi (26 points), Maharashtra (26 points), Andhra (26 points) and Hyderabad (22 points). Thus these teams are set to advance to the quarters but their opponents will be decided only when league matches of Group C end on October 11.

Summarised Scores:

Karnataka 296 all out in 48.2 overs (B R Sharath 70, Manish Pandey 67, Siddharth Kaul 5-41) lost to Punjab 297/4 in 48.5 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 138, Shubman Gill 77, K Gowtham 1-49) by four wickets.

At Alur: Baroda 206/8 in 50 overs (Yusuf Pathan 64 not out, Krunal Pandya 52, Samad Fallah 3-21) lost to Maharashtra 207/5 in 44.3 overs (Naushad Shaikh 76 not out, Rohit Motwani 59, Atit Sheth 3-36) by five wickets.

Vidarbha 218 all out in 48.2 overs (Faiz Fazal 49, Atharva Taide 48, Darshan Misal 4-52) beat Goa 217/9 in 50 overs (Amit Verma 45, Suyash Prabhudessai 39, Darshan Nalkande 3-37) by one run.