A formidable Karnataka continued their winning streak in the Super League stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy after they trounced Delhi by 8 wickets in Group B match, in Indore, on Sunday.
Earlier, Karnataka had beaten domestic giants Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh in their previous two Super League stage matches of the national T20 tournament.
It was an all-round show from Karnataka where right-arm medium pacer Koushik V shone with the ball and later Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair remained unbeaten as Karnataka chased the 110-run target with utmost ease.
Karnataka bowlers justified their skipper's decision to invite Delhi to bat first at the Emerald Heights International School Ground.
Koushik (4-19) and leg-spinner K C Cariappa (3-15) wreaked havoc as Delhi was restricted to a meagre 109/9 in their 20 overs.
Apart from Nitish Rana (37 off 29 balls) and Lalit Yadav (33 off 40 balls), no other Delhi batsman showed spine as Koushik and Cariappa rattled their top and middle order.
For Karnataka, medium pacer R Vinay Kumar (1-13) also played his role to perfection.
Chasing 110, Karnataka lost in-form opener Rohan Kadam (0) in the second over after he was caught by rival skipper Ishant Sharma off pacer Navdeep Saini.
Wicket-keeper B R Sharath (26 off 15 balls) and ever dependable Agarwal (43 not out off 47 balls) added 32 for the second wicket, but then Sharath was run out by Subodh Bhati.
Karun Nair, who has a triple hundred in Tests, then joined Agarwal as the duo took Karnataka home with 4.3 overs to spare and in the process took the Delhi bowlers to task.
All Delhi bowlers, including test specialist Ishant Sharma (0-7), had an off day in the field.
Meanwhile, in Group A game, Bengal thrashed Jharkhand by 8 wickets.
Bengal bowlers dished a clinical performance to restrict Jharkhand to 126/9 in 20 overs and then chased the target with seven overs to spare.
Shreevats Goswami starred with the bat as he remained unbeaten on 86 off just 50 balls, striking 12 fours and a six to help Bengal grab four points.
In the Group B game, Vidarbha bowlers held their nerves and guided their side to a 10-run victory over Uttar Pradesh.
Brief Scores: At Emerald High School International Ground: Delhi 109/9 (Nitish Rana 37, Lalit Yadav 33; V Koushik 4-19, K C Cariappa 3-15) lost to Karnataka 112/2 (Mayank Agarwal 43 not out, Karun Nair 42 not out; Navdeep Saini 1-21) by 8 wickets. Karnataka 4 points, Delhi 0 points.
At Holkar Stadium: Jharkhand 126/9 (Anukul Roy 37 not out, Virat Singh 27; Shahbaz Ahmed 2-21, Akash Deep 2-24) lost to against Bengal 127/2 (Shreevats Goswami 86 not out, Wriddhiman Saha 24; Varun Aaron 2-24) by eight wickets. Bengal 4 points, Jharkhand 0 points.
At Emerald High School Ground: Vidarbha 143/7 (Atharva Taide 41, S U Srivastava 23, J M Sharma 22; Ankit Choudhary 2-28, Mohsin Khan 2-40) won against Uttar Pradesh 133/9 (Samarth Singh 39, Upendra Yadav 26; Srikant Wagh 2-24, Akshay Karnewar 2-29) by 10 runs. Vidarbha points, Uttar Pradesh 0 points
