Brilliant Karnataka assured of title

An unbeaten 79 by Kunal Kapoor powered Karnataka to a comfortable seven-wicket win against Hyderabad and assured them of the title in the South Zone under-25 tournament for the PS Ram Mohan Trophy here on Monday.

With a tally of 18 points from four consecutive victories, Karnataka, who are to play Andhra in their concluding fixture on Wednesday, enjoy a healthy advantage that should help them win the trophy.

After restricting Hyderabad to 241 for eight in 50 overs, Karnataka made light of the target as Kapoor and Karun Nair (57) added 104 runs for the third wicket off 124 balls as they cruised home in the 45th over.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu finally opened their account by defeating Kerala by 95 runs for their first win while Goa overcame Andhra by 62 runs in the other matches.

After being bowled out for 241 in 49.3 overs, Goa produced a fine performance with the ball, shutting out Andhra for a measly 179.

After four rounds, Goa are placed second behind Karnataka with nine points, followed by Hyderabad (7), Kerala (7), Tamil Nadu (4) and Andhra (3).

Brief scores: Hyderabad: 241/8 in 50 overs (J Anshul 50,V Sandeep 67, VE Sandeep Rajan 45; HS Sharath 3-38, K Gautam 2-34, Anirudha Joshi 2-42) lt to Karnataka: 242/3 in 44.4 overs (Samarth 32,  Mayank Agarwal 39,  Kunal Kapoor 79 n.o., Karun Nair 57, KC Avinash 29 n.o.; Syed Ali 2-42).

Goa: 241 all out in 49.3 overs (Snehal Kavatankar 73, Tejas Wagle 43, Tushar Narvekat 29, Darshan Misal 26; M Ajaykumar 3-44, Sk Naushad 4-50, SKM Basha 2-26) bt Andhra: 179 all out in 44.1 overs (Jyothi Saikrishna 73, M Ajaykumar 39; Lakshy Garg 4-26, Darshan Misal 2-26, Ninad Pawaskar 2-34).

Tamil Nadu: 268 all out in 49.4 overs (R Rohith 51, M Lakshminarayanan 63, V Maaruthi Raghav 92; Suraj 3-41, PM Anfal 2-42) bt Kerala: 173 all out in 39.1 overs (Sachin Mohan 26, PM Jineesh 45, PM Anfal 30; K MartinSanjeev 2-28, Prashant K Varma 2-35, V Maaruthi Raghav 2-15, R Aashish Kumar 2-9).