Devdutt Padikkal has taken Karnataka into the knockouts.
Credit: X@BCCIdomestic
Newly appointed captain Devdutt Padikkal smashed a blistering unbeaten 120 off just 85 balls to lead Karnataka to a stunning five-wicket win over Punjab in their last Ranji Trophy group tie at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Sunday.
In a must-win contest, Karnataka needed 250 runs to advance to the quarterfinal of the Ranji Trophy. The team was in a spot of bother after losing senior batter K L Rahul early as they headed into tea break with 198 runs still to score.
However, Padikkal forged a 113-run stand in just 76 balls with Mayank Agarwal (53 off 36) as Karnataka batted with intent and chased the target down in just 27.5 overs to make it to the next round after having suffered a morale-shattering defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the previous match.
Punjab fought back with quick wickets of Aneesh K V and Smaran Ravichandran, but Padikkal found an able partner in Shreyas Gopal as the duo smashed 67 runs off 43 balls to get the visitors closer to the target.
Padikkal's unbeaten knock was laced with six fours and five sixes as he never took the foot off the accelerator, even as he saw his partners fall at the other end.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka picked up seven wickets to restrict Punjab to 256 after having taken a slender lead of seven runs in the first innings.
Captain Uday Saharan led Punjab's second essay with 93 runs, Anmolpreet Singh played a handy knock of 44 runs as the visitors were made to toil for 101 overs.
Experienced duo of Prasidh Krishna and Shreyas Gopal picked up three wickets each before Padikkal took centre stage.
Karnataka will now face Mumbai in the quarterfinal, which would be a repeat of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the shorter format, Karnataka came victorious in the battle of the heavyweights.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh are the other team that advanced from Karnataka's Group B.
Apart from them, Bengal and Uttarakhand from Group C, Jharkhand and Andhra from Group A, and Mumbai and Jammu & Kashmir from Group D have qualified for the knockouts.