<p>On a day when his potential replacement at the top of the order in Tests, Rohit Sharma, fell for a two-ball duck in the warm-up match in Vizianagaram against the visiting South Africans, K L Rahul made a big statement with a sparkling ton, albeit in a different format.</p>.<p>The opener, understandably cautious during his first half of the innings, exploded in the latter part en route his 131 (127b, 10x4, 4x6). His near-blemishless century formed the cornerstone of Karnataka’s impressive 294 all out in 49.4 overs, after the hosts were asked to bat first by Kerala in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.</p>.<p>Up against a stiff target, Kerala put up a spirited show for about 3/4th of their chase, first through a flamboyant Sanju Samson (67, 66b, 6x4, 3x6) and then through an industrious Vishnu Vinod (104, 123b, 10x4, 3x6). Apart from these two innings of substance, however, there wasn’t anything significant coming from Kerala batsmen as six of them managed only single digit scores.</p>.<p>Karnataka were served well by their three-pronged pace attack with A Mithun (2/32), Prasidh Krishna (1/46) and Ronit More (3/42) sharing bulk of the wickets between them as Kerala were bundled out for 234 in 46.4 overs. At 184 for three in the 34th over, Kerala appeared to be on track but the dismissal of Sachin Baby at that score saw them lose their next six wickets for the addition of 50 runs. Kerala’s 60-run loss gave Karnataka their second successive win of the tournament and they sit atop Group A with eight points. </p>.<p>Rahul batted for almost 85 % of the innings and was the fifth batsman to get out, anchoring first and then accelerating towards the end of his stay. Skipper Manish Pandey essayed a typically busy half-century (50, 51b, 6x4, 2x6) while Shreyas Gopal chipped in with 31 in an innings where none of the other batsmen got to 20. </p>.<p>Rahul’s first 50, which came off 68 balls, was generously sprinkled with singles on the leg side and just three fours but once he got his eyes in and a measure of the conditions, he cut loose. Boundaries cascaded off his blade as he sped to his second fifty in just 40 balls with four fours and two sixes before he cantered to his last 31 runs in 19 deliveries (3x4, 1x6). Leg side was his favoured area of scoring with 58 % of his runs coming in that region. </p>.<p>Karnataka next take on Hyderabad at Alur grounds on Tuesday.</p>
<p>On a day when his potential replacement at the top of the order in Tests, Rohit Sharma, fell for a two-ball duck in the warm-up match in Vizianagaram against the visiting South Africans, K L Rahul made a big statement with a sparkling ton, albeit in a different format.</p>.<p>The opener, understandably cautious during his first half of the innings, exploded in the latter part en route his 131 (127b, 10x4, 4x6). His near-blemishless century formed the cornerstone of Karnataka’s impressive 294 all out in 49.4 overs, after the hosts were asked to bat first by Kerala in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.</p>.<p>Up against a stiff target, Kerala put up a spirited show for about 3/4th of their chase, first through a flamboyant Sanju Samson (67, 66b, 6x4, 3x6) and then through an industrious Vishnu Vinod (104, 123b, 10x4, 3x6). Apart from these two innings of substance, however, there wasn’t anything significant coming from Kerala batsmen as six of them managed only single digit scores.</p>.<p>Karnataka were served well by their three-pronged pace attack with A Mithun (2/32), Prasidh Krishna (1/46) and Ronit More (3/42) sharing bulk of the wickets between them as Kerala were bundled out for 234 in 46.4 overs. At 184 for three in the 34th over, Kerala appeared to be on track but the dismissal of Sachin Baby at that score saw them lose their next six wickets for the addition of 50 runs. Kerala’s 60-run loss gave Karnataka their second successive win of the tournament and they sit atop Group A with eight points. </p>.<p>Rahul batted for almost 85 % of the innings and was the fifth batsman to get out, anchoring first and then accelerating towards the end of his stay. Skipper Manish Pandey essayed a typically busy half-century (50, 51b, 6x4, 2x6) while Shreyas Gopal chipped in with 31 in an innings where none of the other batsmen got to 20. </p>.<p>Rahul’s first 50, which came off 68 balls, was generously sprinkled with singles on the leg side and just three fours but once he got his eyes in and a measure of the conditions, he cut loose. Boundaries cascaded off his blade as he sped to his second fifty in just 40 balls with four fours and two sixes before he cantered to his last 31 runs in 19 deliveries (3x4, 1x6). Leg side was his favoured area of scoring with 58 % of his runs coming in that region. </p>.<p>Karnataka next take on Hyderabad at Alur grounds on Tuesday.</p>
