Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh enter quarters with victories over Jharkhand, Mumbai

AHMEDABAD: Karnataka got the better of Jharkhand by five wickets while Uttar Pradesh registered an eight-wicket victory over Mumbai in the pre-quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Narendra Modi Stadium Ground 'A' and 'B' here on Saturday.

With the pre-quarterfinals ending on Saturday, Karnataka will now face Punjab in the first quarterfinal match while Uttar Pradesh will face off against Maharashtra in the second of the four last eight fixtures on Monday.

Electing to field first, Karnataka pacers Ronit More (3/31) and Vidwath Kaverappa (3/20) dismissed Jharkhand openers Utkarsh Singh and Arnav Sinha for ducks in the first two overs. The side made further inroads by taking out Shahbaz Nadeem, captain Virat Singh and Saurabh Tiwary in quick succession to leave Jharkhand at 40/5 in 13.3 overs.

It took a 115-run stand, coming off 155 deliveries, between all-rounder Anukul Roy (57) and wicket-keeper Kumar Kushagra (74) for the sixth wicket to get Jharkhand back on track. But the stand came to an end when Kushagra was dismissed for 74 off 80 balls by Venkatesh M (3-51) — the timely knock included eight fours and two sixes.

Roy went on to hit 57 off 97 balls, including four boundaries but didn't get much support from the other end as Karnataka made regular strikes to bowl out Jharkhand for 187 in 47.1 overs.

In reply, Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal fell early in the chase, castled by Bal Krishna for 12.

But R. Samarth (53 off 60 balls) joined forces with an in-form Nikin Jose to stitch a 64-run stand off 72 balls for the second wicket before the former was dismissed by Rahul Shukla. Though Manish Pandey, Shreyas Gopal and B.R. Sharath fell quickly, Nikin Jose stood tall to be unbeaten on 63 off 93 balls, hitting five fours to chase down 188 in 40.5 overs, with MS Bhandage being 18 not out.

In the other match, Uttar Pradesh had things going their way from the word go. Divyaansh Saxena was bowled for a duck by Ankit Rajpoot on the third ball of the innings while Shivam Mavi castled Prithvi Shaw in the fourth over. Captain Ajinkya Rahane (26) and Armaan Jaffer (32) added a valuable 52-run stand off 66 balls for the third wicket.

But Uttar Pradesh bounced back as Rahane was caught behind by wicket-keeper Aryan Juyal off Tyagi in the 15th over, followed by Shivam Sharma and Shiva Singh taking out Suved Parkar and Jaffer in quick succession to leave Mumbai at 94/5 in 21.4 overs.

Left-arm spin all-rounder Shams Mulani hit 51 off 70 balls while Harddik Tamore scored a timely 67-ball 53 in a vital 103-run stand off 127 balls. But Shiva broke the partnership by taking out Tamore and eventually Mumbai were all out for 220 in 48.3 overs, with Mavi taking 4-41 while Shiva and Karthik had two wickets each.

In reply, Juyal (82 off 103 balls) and Madhav Kaushik (46 off 75 balls) laid the platform for the chase with a brilliant 119-run stand off 152 balls, before Divyaansh cut it short by taking the latter out. Juyal was dismissed by Mohit Avasthi in the 34th over, giving Mumbai a small ray of hope to be back in the game.

But Priyam Garg and captain Karan Sharma shared an unbeaten 63-run stand off 70 balls for the third wicket to take Uttar Pradesh over the line in 45.4 overs. While Garg was unbeaten on 39 off 58 deliveries, Sharma was unconquered at 42 off 38 balls to complete a comprehensive victory for Uttar Pradesh.

Brief Scores: Jharkhand 187 all out in 47.1 overs (Kushagra Kumar 74, Anukul Roy 57; Vidwath Kaverappa 3-20, Ronit More 3-31) lost to Karnataka 188/5 in 40.5 overs (Nikin Jose 63 not out, R Samarth 53; Rahul Shukla 2-44, Bal Krishna 1-22) by five wickets

Mumbai 220 all out in 48.3 overs (Hardik Tamore 53, Shams Mulani 51; Shivam Mavi 4/41, Shiva Singh 2/43) lost to Uttar Pradesh 221/2 in 45.4 overs (Aryan Juyal 82, Madhav Kaushik 46; Divyansh Saxena 1-25, Mohit Avasthi 1-41) by eight wickets. IANS

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