Santosh’s gritty 46 spared Tumkur the blushes on the second and final day of their match against President’s XI in the KSCA inter-zonal under-19 cricket tournament here on Tuesday.

Following on 228 behind President’s XI first innings total of 350 for six declared, Tumkur, riding on Santosh’s knock, scored 131 for seven to come away with a draw. Resuming their first innings on 24 for one, Tumkur were skittled for a paltry 122.

BC Tarun Muthanna was the wrecker-in-chief for President’s XI, scalping six for 52, while Sunil N Raju and Nishanth Hedge picked up two wickets apiece.

In the second innings, with time running out and Santosh playing a studdorn knock, President’s XI just couldn’t close out the match. But that didn’t stop them from making the semifinals, where they square up against Bangalore Zone.

In the other semis, Combined City XI will take on Mysore Zone.

Brief scores: President’s XI: 350/6 decl. in 86 overs drew with Tumkur Zone: 122 all out in 47.5 overs (Abhilash Mahendrakar 36; BC Tarun Muthanna 6-52, Sunil N Raju 2-14, Nishanth Hegde 2-4) and 131/7 in 56 overs (A Mahendrakar 27, Santosh 46; Nishanth Hegde 2-20, Sunil N Raju 3-29).

Mysore Zone: 148 all out in 82.2 overs and 44/1 in 20 overs drew Bangalore Zone: 214 all out in 70.2 overs (Sanjay Kumar 92; Somashekar 2-35, Salauddin 4-58, Karthik Raghavan 2-73).

Mangalore Zone: 133 all out in 73.4 overs drew with Dharwad Zone: 234 all out in 75.1 overs (Nitin Bhille 128, Vinayak 45, Tanu B 27; Daniel Sequiera 4-79, Sachin Mukar 3-48).

Shimoga Zone: 182 all out in 78 overs and 62/5 in 29 overs (Sandesh Satish 2-17) drew with Bangalore City: 278 all out in 74.2 overs (Karan Rao 27, Stalin Hoover 118, Rahul Bhatkal 76; Mallik 2-30, Victor Kevin 2-63, Cyril 4-45).

Semifinal line-up: Combined City XI vs Mysore Zone; Bangalore Zone vs President’s XI.