Karnataka through to quarterfinals despite loss

Mohammed Rumman Khan

Karnataka lost to Bengal by four wickets in their final group B league match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy but that didn’t stop them from qualifying for the knock-out stage of the competition.

Though Tamil Nadu (12 points) was well beaten by Baroda, its healthy net run-rate of 1.052 helped the team take the top spot ahead of Karnataka (12 points, NRR 0.789) and Bengal (12 points, NRR 0.235) and Puducherry (12 points, NRR -1.360) after four teams finished equal of points. Namma team didn’t lose their matches badly and could maintain a better run rate in qualifying for the next round.

After 4 days, including travel and quarantine, Karnataka will meet Rajasthan for the prequarterfinals in Jaipur on 20th December.

Bengal rode on a fine show of batting as they chased down the target of 253 runs set by Karnataka with nine balls remaining in the match, courtesy of brilliant batting display. After restricting Karnataka for 252/8 in the first innings, Abhisek Das and skipper Sudip Chatterjee scored individual half-centuries while Ritwik Roy Choudhary fell one run short of his half-century. Meanwhile, Shahbaz and Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee were present in the crease and ended up winning the match by four wickets.

At the same time, Karnataka skipper Manish Pandey’s enterprising knock of 90 runs in the first innings has of less use as the team ended up on the losing side. Bengal were off to a quick start 58/1 in 10 overs, as Karnataka couldn’t take wickets at regular intervals and keep up the pressure. Bengal batters were rotating the strike well and were releasing the pressure when needed with boundaries.

It was a forgettable tournament for the Shams Mulani-led Mumbai as it managed only one from five matches to finish last with 4 points after having won the delayed tournament (2020-21) earlier in the year. Their solitary win came against Baroda.

The biggest upset of the tourney, defending champion Mumbai, another team from Elite B, stumbled to a fourth defeat in five games to finish with four points after a humiliating 18-run loss to unfancied Pondicherry.