Shrijith smashed six fours and a couple of sixes in his 78-ball 77.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
Karnataka aced another chase, this time against Tamil Nadu, to continue its winning run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Gujarat College Ground here on Monday.
Tamil Nadu managed to stretch Karnataka, but the defending champion found heroes in wicketkeeper K.L. Shrijith (77) and all-rounder Shreyas Gopal (55). The two figured in a match-winning stand of 116 for the fifth wicket as Karnataka chased down the target of 289 with 17 balls to spare to record its third consecutive victory.
Tamil Nadu sensed a glimmer of hope when Mayank Agarwal (58) was caught behind off Sunny Sandhu to reduce Karnataka to 136 for four, but Shrijith and Shreyas shut out any hopes with their busy fifth-wicket stand.
The duo rotated the strike by taking sharp singles and punished the odd loose ball to build the partnership. When Shrijith and Shreyas were dismissed off successive deliveries, Abhinav Manohar (20 not out) and Vidyadhar Patil (17 not out) hastened the victory with a flurry of big shots.
Earlier, restrictive lines from Karnataka spinners Shreesha Achar (two for 47) and Shreyas (one for 47) strangled the Tamil Nadu batters in the middle overs. Captain N. Jagadeesan (65) played fluently, but B. Indrajith (28) and opener S.R. Athish (14) struggled.
Achar took the big wicket of Jagadeesan while Shreyas prised out Indrajith as Tamil Nadu lost momentum in the middle overs. Abhilash Shetty’s choking spell at the death in which he dismissed the well-settled Pradosh Ranjan Paul (57) and Sai Kishore (38) helped Karnataka bowl out Tamil Nadu for 288.
Himanshu Mantri (93,105b, 7×4) and the spinners fired Madhya Pradesh to its second consecutive win as Kerala collapsed in a heap while chasing a target of 215 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Himanzhu added 66 runs for the ninth wicket with Tripuesh Singh (37) after spinners Ankit Sharma (four for 38) and B. Aparajith (three for 36) reduced Madhya Pradesh to 144 for eight.
Sharafuddeen’s hard-hitting knock of 42 reduced the margin of defeat for Kerala which was dismissed for 167.
On a turning wicket, the Kerala batters fell to the guiles of Shubham Sharma (three for 16), Shivang Kumar (two for 42) and Saransh Jain (two for 17).
The scores: Elite: Group A (Ahmedabad): Tamil Nadu 288 in 49.5 overs (N. Jagadeesan 65, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 57, Abhilash Shetty 4/57) lost to Karnataka 293/6 in 47.1 overs (Mayank Agarwal 58, K.L. Shrijith 77, Shreyas Gopal 55)..
Madhya Pradesh 214 in 46.1 overs (Himanshu Mantri 93, Ankit Sharma 4/38) bt Kerala 167 in 40.1 overs (Sharafuddeen 42).
Tripura 286 in 49.5 overs (Tejasvi Jaiswal 61, Udiyan Bose 40, Sridam Paul 50, Rajat Dey 43) bt Rajasthan 220 in 44.2 overs (Karan Lamba 61, Vijay Shankar 4/30).
Jharkhand 368/7 in 50 overs (Utkarsh Singh 74, Kumar Kushagra 105, Anukul Roy 98 n.o., Kounain Quaraishi 43) bt Pondicherry 235 in 41.4 overs (Neyan Kangayan 47, Jashwanth Shreeram 60).
Published – December 29, 2025 08:11 pm IST