Young Karnataka sensation Devdutt Padikkal continued his terrific form ahead of the IPL with a third successive century as the defending champions stormed into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals with a lopsided 10-wicket win over Railways in a Group C, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore opener, who scored a careerbest 152 against Odisha and followed it up with 126 not out versus Kerala in their last outing, smacked nine sixes and as many boundaries in his 145 not out from 125 balls.
The 20-year-old left-hander had the company of his skipper Ravikumar Samarth who also slammed an unbeaten century (130 not out from 118 balls; 17x4) as the opening duo raced to the 285-run target win with 57 balls to spare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The big win ensured that they finished on top of group C to qualify for the last-eight while Uttar Pradesh finished second following their six-wicket win over Odisha at the Just Cricket Academy.
Padikkal, who also has two half-centuries, now has the season's highest tally of 572 runs from five matches with a staggering average of 190.66.
The Railways bowlers did very little to trouble the Karnataka opening duo who raced past 200 in 29.5 overs as the seemingly challenging total proved just to be a cakewalk.
Padikkal also paced his innings beautifully, taking 60 balls for his fifty and then he stepped up and notched his fifth List A century in next 34 deliveries.
Earlier Railways rode on opener Pratham Singh's 129 to notch 284/9. Singh hit 12 fours and three sixes in his knock from 138 balls.
Karnataka kept taking wickets at regular intervals but the Railways opener stayed calm and ensured that they set a sizeable target.
Brief Scores: At M.Chinnaswamy Stadium: Railways 284/9; 50 overs (Pratham Singh 129; Shreyas Gopal 3/41, J Suchith 2/72) lost to Karnataka 285 fo no loss; 40.3 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 145 not out, Ravikumar Samarth 130 not out) by 10 wickets.
At KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Alur: Bihar 148 all out; 40.2 overs (Babul Kumar 64; Sreesanth 4/30, Jalaj Saxena 3/30) lost to Kerala 149/1; 8.5 overs (Robin Uthappa 87 not out, Sanju Samson 24 not out) by nine wickets.
At Just Cricket Academy Ground: Odisha 148 all out; 40.1 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 49 not out, Rakesh Pattnaik 46; Shivam Sharma 6/22) lost to Uttar Pradesh 150/4; 21.4 overs (Upendra Yadav 32, Sameer Choudhary 29 not out) by six wickets.
Gujarat beat Baroda to remain unbeaten in league stage
Hosts Gujarat defeated Baroda by 40 runs in their last Group A match to remain unbeaten in the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Surat.
Opting to bat, Gujarat posted 277 for 7, riding on opener Dhruv Raval's 102 off 129 balls and then restricted the opposition to 237 for 9.
Experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (3/52) shone bright with the ball for Gujarat.
Gujarat had earlier defeated Chhattisgarh, Goa, Tripura and Hyderabad, while this was Baroda's first loss in the tournament.
Gujarat did not have the best of starts, losing opener Priyank Panchal (2) and one-down Chirag Gandhi (12) early. While Panchal was cleaned up by pacer Atit Sheth (3/53), Gandhi was caught by Abhimanyusingh Rajput off Babashafi Pathan (2/47).
But then left-handed batsman Raval took charge and anchored the innings with responsibility en route to his century knock which was laced with nine boundaries and a six.
He found an able partner in right-handed middle order batsman Het Patel (82 off 84 balls; 7x4s, 2x6s), as the two rallied the innings with a 152-run stand for the third wicket.
But when it looked like the duo would take Gujarat to a big score, Baroda removed both the batsman. Pacer Lukman Meriwala (2/67) dismissed Het, who was holed to Kedar Devdhar, while Babashafi Pathan removed Raval as Gujarat slipped to 213 for 4.
A quick-fire 22 off nine balls by Chintan Gaja helped Gujarat go past the 275-run mark.
Chasing 278, Baroda lost opener Kedav Devdhar (17) early.
Wicket-keeper Smit Patel (73; 6x4s) and Vishnu Solanki (37; 3x4s) rallied the innings with a 92-run stand.
But Gujarat pegged back Baroda by taking three wickets in quick succession as they slipped to 135 for 4.
Pacer Chintan Gaja struck twice, first removing Solanki, who was caught by Raval, and then sent back inform rival skipper Krunal Pandya (2). Ninad Rathwa (3) also fell cheaply.
Then Chawla trapped Patel in front of the wicket as Baroda lost half of their side for 154. From there on, it was an uphill task for Baroda, who eventually ended at 237 for 9.
Pacers Chintan Gaja (2/40) and Arzan Nagwaswalla (2/47) played their roles to perfection.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 277 for 7 in 50 overs (Dhruv Raval 102, Het Patel 82; Atit Sheth 3/53) beat Baroda 237 for 9 in 50 overs (Smit Patel 73, Vishnu Solanki 37; Piyush Chawla 3/52, Chintan Gaja 2/40) by 40 runs.
At CK Pithawala ground: Hyderabad 345 for 6 in 50 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 150, Tilak Verma 128; Lakshay Garg 2/60, Suyash Prabhudessai 1/60) beat Goa 343 for 5 in 50 overs (KD Eknath 169 not out, Snehal Kauthankar 116; T Ravi Teja 3/69; B Sandeep 1/63) by two runs.
At Kholvad Gymkhana ground: Tripura 230 all out in 48.4 overs (Samrat Singha 102; Milind Kumar 55; Ajay Mandal 2/18, Sumit Ruikar 2/39) lost to Chhattisgarh 233 for 5 in 47.1 overs (Amandeep Khare 101 not out, Rishabh Tiwari 30; Parvez Sultan 2/40, MB Mura Singh 2/45) by five wickets.
Andhra beat Jharkhand to finish as Group B leaders
Andhra outplayed Jharkhand by seven wickets to emerge on top of Group B in the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament in Indore.
Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh finished on 12 points each from five matches but Andhra emerged on top, thanks to their higher net run-rate and secured a place in the knockout phase.
Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh finished second, third and fourth respectively, followed by Punjab (8 points) and Vidarbha (4).
Sent in to bat, Jharkhand struggled with only four batsmen managing double figures. Skipper Ishan Kishan made 38 (68 balls, 3 fours), the highest score while medium-pacer M Harishankar Reddy was impressive with a four-wicket haul for Andhra.
Ashwin Hebbar (44, 18 balls, 4X4s, 4X6s) and Ricky Bhui (57 not out, 27 balls, 5X4s, 4X6s) went on the attack from the start with the Jharkhand bowlers having no respite.
The duo added 82 in 5.5 overs before Hebbar fell to Shahbaz Nadeem (1/26). Bhui continued with his aggressive ways and despite losing captain Hanuma Vihari (4), he saw the team home in the company of Naren Reddy (16 not out, 7 balls, 1X4, 2X6s).
In another match, Madhya Pradesh opener Venkatesh Iyer missed out on a well-deserved double ton as he was run out two runs shy of the mark in his team's big 105-run win over Punjab, while Tamil Nadu defeated Vidarbha by five wickets, chasing down the target of 151 in 11.2 overs.
Off-spinner B Aparajith (3/10) and medium pacers J Kousik (3/22) and M Mohammed (3/33) starred as Tamil Nadu bundled out Vidarbha for 150 in 41 overs.
A few of the Vidarbha batsmen got starts but could not quite go on to make a big score as TN bowlers kept a tight leash.
In reply, skipper Dinesh Karthik (19), opening the batting, fell in the third over going in search of quick runs but N Jagadeesan smashed a 18-ball 48 (4X4, 4X4) to guide Tamil Nadu to the win in 11.2 overs. Mohammed (37, 14 balls, 3X4s, 3X6s) also played a quickfire knock.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 150 all out in 41 overs (Akshay Wadkar 31, S R Ramaswamy 28; B Aparajith 3/10, J Kousik 3/22, M Mohammed 3/33) lost to Tamil Nadu 152 for 5 in 11.2 overs (N Jagadeesan 48, M Mohammed 37 not out) by five wickets. TN: 4 points, Vidarbha: 0.
Jharkhand 139 all out in 46.2 overs (Ishan Kishan 38, Anukul Roy 30; M Harishankar Reddy 4/30) lost to Andhra 140 for 3 in 9.5 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 44, Ricky Bhui 57 not out) by seven wickets. Andhra: 4 points, Jharkhand: 0.
Madhya Pradesh 402 for 3 in 30 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 198, Aditya Shrivastava 88 not out, Rajat Patidar 54) beat Punjab 297 all out in 42.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 104, Siddharth Kaul 33; Mihir Hirwani 4/62) by 105 runs.
