Bengaluru: Opener KL Rahul continued his good form as his stroke-filled 90 guided Karnataka to the semi-finals even as another out-of-favour opener Shikhar Dhawan’s failure proved costly with Delhi exiting from another quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Sunday.
While Karnataka cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Puducherry in one of the quarter-finals, Delhi lost by six wickets to Gujarat via VJD Method in another last eight clash. Put into bat, Puducherry crawled to 207 for 9 with Vikneshwaran MM Marimuthu top scoring with an unbeaten 58. The Karnataka bowlers led by the vastly experienced Abhimanyu Mithun (2-35) ran through the Pondicherry top and middle order before Mariumuthu and Sagar Trivedi (54) tried to rally their innings.
Pondicherry were reeling at 41 for 6 at one stage before Mariumuthu and Trivedi pulled them out of trouble and gave the score some semblance of respectability. The Karnataka bowlers kept striking at regular intervals to ensure that their opponents were restricted to a sub-par total. Leg-spinner Pravin Dubey (3-44) and seamer Vasuki Koushik (2-33) also shared the spoils. The chase was a walk in the park as Rahul and fellow opener Devdutt Padikkal (50) added 98 for the opening stand. Rahul’s innings had eight fours and a six and he faced 112 balls. Once Padikkal, however one down Rohan Kadam played the perfect second fiddle to Rahul, who was all guns blazing.
Rahul played his usual natural game and dominated the opposition bowlers. He and one down Rohan Kadam stitched a 84 run stand for the second wicket to take the game away from Puducherry. After Rahul fell, the win was mere a formality which was completed by Kadam in company of skipper Manish Pandey (20 not out). (PTI)
