Karnataka fail to advance

Karnataka went into the final round not merely requiring a victory but also for Kerala to lose to Goa if they were to progress as the second team from the Zone, behind Tamil Nadu, to the all-India level. In the event, while they managed what they required, they were eliminated after Kerala crushed Goa by eight wickets with 12 deliveries to spare. Kerala, who finished second behind unbeaten Tamil Nadu, thus earned the right to advance to the next phase.

Hyderabad were well served by a belligerent N Arjun Yadav (44, 28b, 4x4, 2x6) and a more measured half-century from DB Ravi Teja (56, 51b, 3x4, 1x6), but Sagar’s four for 29 kept them down to 148 for seven from their allocated overs.

Karnataka’s top-order came good collectively as Mayank Agarwal (31, 30b, 2x4), Bharath
Chipli (34, 25b, 4x4, 2x6), Robin Uthappa (34, 24b, 2x4) and Manish Pandey (34 n.o., 27b. 3x4. 1x6) took them to 152 for six off the last delivery of their chase.
Kerala were always in command after sticking Goa in and restricting them to 131 for five. Rohan Prem’s undefeated 62 (43b, 7x4) helped them to second place, and qualification, in a canter.

Dinesh Kaarthick slammed an unbeaten 90 (41b, 11x4, 3x6) as Tamil Nadu overpowered Andhra by 23 runs.

Brief scores: Hyderabad: 148/7 in 20 overs (N Arjun Yadav 44, DB Ravi Teja 56; Aditya Sagar 4-29) lt to Karnataka: 152/6 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 31, Bharath Chipli 34, Robin Uthappa 34, Manish Pandey 34 n.o.; Ashish Reddy 2-33).

Tamil Nadu: 190/3 in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 64, KB Arun Karthik 26, Dinesh Kaarthick 90 n.o.) bt Andhra: 167 all out in 19 overs (ASK Verma 27, Y Venugopala Rao 70, KS Shahbuddin 31; C Ganapathy 3-20).

Goa: 131/5 in 20 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar 51) lt to Kerala: 132/2 in 18 overs (Abhishek Hegde 35, Rohan Prem 62 n.o.; Amit Yadav 2-19).

Final standings: Tamil Nadu (20 pts) 1; Kerala (14) 2; Karnataka (12) 3; Hyderabad (8) 4; Goa (4) 5; Andhra (2) 6.