Anmol, Kaul help Punjab rout Karnataka
Powered by a splendid century by opener Anmolpreet Singh following a fifer by Siddarth Kaul, Punjab trounced Karnataka by six wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.
After bundling out Karnataka for a stiff 296, courtesy a five-wicket haul by pacer Kaul, it was Anmolpreet who stole the show with a pulverising knock of 138 in the Elite Group ‘A’ tie at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kaul wreaked havoc to return with fine figures of 5-41 and his scalps included Karun Nair, Kaunain Abbas, Shreyas Gopal, Aniruddha and T Pradeep. The speedster was complimented well by Barinder Singh Sran (3-48), while veteran Yuvraj Singh and young leggie Mayank Markande picked up a wicket each.
For Karnataka, wicketkeeper-batsman BR Sharath top scored with 70, while skipper Manish Pandey (67), R Samarth (54) and Shreyas Gopal (37) also made noteworthy contributions.
But for Punjab, the chase was a walk in the park, with 20-year-old Anmolpreet scoring a blazing 138 off just 106 balls. He also put on a 198-run stand for the opening wicket with Shubman Gill (77).
Anmolpreet, a right-handed batsman, smashed 12 fours and five hits over the fence, while Gill struck seven fours and a six. Punjab romped home with seven balls to spare.
The quarter-finals for the tournament will start on October 14, with the semi-finals on October 17 and 18 and the final on Saturday October 20, all scheduled in Bengaluru.
As per the standings, Mumbai with 28 points has topped Elite ‘A’ and ‘B’ followed by Delhi (26 points), Maharashtra (26 points), Andhra (26 points) and Hyderabad (22 points). Thus these teams are set to advance to the quarters but their opponents will be decided only when league matches of Group ‘C’ end on October 11.
Bihar enter quarters
Capping a successful return from an 18-year exile, Bihar stormed into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-finals with a nine-wicket thrashing of Mizoram here on Monday.
Bihar concluded the league stage with an unassailable 30 points and grabbed the solitary qualifying berth from the spot from the plate group.
Bihar captain Keshav Kumar claimed 4-21 before spinner Ashutosh Aman returned with impressive figures of 4-22-3, as Mizoram folded for 83 in 27.2 overs. Bihar cruised home in 15.4 overs with opener Vikash Ranjan remaining unbeaten on 59.