Patiala: Karnataka crashed to their first defeat of the season, Saurashtra pulling off a nerve-wracking four-wicket victory in a really small chase at the Dhruve Pandove stadium on Friday.
Despite the defeat R Vinay Kumar’s men have all but sealed their knockout berth, with all thanks to Odisha, who shocked contenders Maharashtra to rule them out of the equation, on the third day.
Having been behind the ball on all the three days, Karnataka’s K Gowtham rattled Saurashtra to the bone on a gripping final day. Resuming at 168/5 and just nine in front, Karnataka added another 48 before folding up for 216, leaving Saurashtra with a mere target of 58.
What transpired in the next couple of hours was something that shook Saurashtra as offie Gowtham ripped open their batting line-up to leave the teetering at 36/6 in 11.3 overs grabbing 4-14. Suddenly, Karnataka sniffed an improbable win but Saurashtra’s Arpit Vasavada and first innings centurion Prerak Mankad carried them to 58/6 to fetch them their first win of the season.
Falling from their perch, Karnataka, after four straight wins, have drawn one before losing on Friday to tally 30 from seven behind Jharkhand, who leapfrogged them to the top with 32 points after their victory over Assam.
In the scenario, Jharkhand and Karnataka are all set for the knockouts from Group B given that Jharkhand take on Odisha (22) while Karnataka meet Maharashtra (21) in the final league game in Mohali.
Whatever happens in the final set of matches will be inconsequential for the top two as Odisha, Delhi and Maharashtra have no chance of catching up even if they win with a bonus point.
SCOREBOARD
Karnataka (I innings): 200
Saurashtra (I innings): 359
Karnataka (II innings, O/b 168/5): M Kaunain Abbas lbw Chauhan 74, Shreyas Gopal c Mankad b Unadkat 30, Mayank Agarwal lbw Unadkat 1, R Vinay Kumar c Unadkat b Chauhan 12, Abrar Kazi b Jivrajani 4, K Gowtham (n.o.) 0. Extras (b7, lb4, nb1) 12. Total (all out; 92.4 overs) 216
FoW: 5-147, 6-189, 7-190, 8-199, 9-214
Bowling: J Unadkat 17-6-29-2, P Mankad 2-0-6-0, K Makvana 20-2-56-3, J Chauhan 36.4-12-71-4, V Jivarajani 16-6-35-1, J Shah 1-0-8-0
Saurashtra (II innings, target: 58): Snell Patel c Gautam b Gowtham 5, Kishan Parmar lbw Kazi 10, Jay Chauhan c Samarth b Kazi 11, Sheldon Jackson b Gowtham 0, Jaydev Shah b Gowtham 9, Samarth Vyas b Gowtham 0, Arpit Vasavada (n.o.) 8, Prerak Mankad (n.o.) 14. Extras (b1) 1 Total (for 6 wkts; 18.4 overs) 58
FoW: 1-14, 2-20, 3-20, 4-32, 5-32, 6-36
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 2-0-13-0, A Kazi 8-1-21-2, K Gowtham 7.4-3-14-4, S Gopal 1-0-9-0
Points: Saurashtra: 6, Karnataka: 0
