Karnataka chased down a stiff 325-run target riding KL Rahul’s fluent 130, to oust domestic cricket powerhouse Mumbai and reach the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy.
Rahul stitched a game-turning 147-run fourth-wicket partnership with Ravichandran Smaran (83 not out) in a four-wicket win in the quarter-final clash at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground on Monday.
They will face Uttarakhand in the semi-final beginning on Sunday.
Resuming on 113/2, Karnataka lost Karun Nair, the other overnight batter alongside Rahul, early with 119 runs on the board. Smaran then joined forces with the India Test opener and remained solid right through. Precisely, his solidity went a fairly long way in enabling Rahul to play a little more aggressively.
He finished with 14 boundaries and a six, while Smaran hit 11 fours.
In Indore, pacer Auqib Nabi registered a back-to-back fifer, finishing with a match haul of 12 wickets in Jammu and Kashmir’s 56-run win over Madhya Pradesh. Resuming on 87/5, MP were all out for 234, with Auqib adding two more to the tally of three wickets he had taken on Day III of the quarter-final clash.
