JOIN USIt was the third consecutive win for Karnataka, who scored a modest 206 for eight but then did well to bundle out Kerala for 161 in 43.3 overs at the Nehru Stadium.
Openers Shashindra K (31) and Samarth C (43) gave a good start, putting on 49 runs before the former was caught by Ajay off the bowling of Sally Samson.
A dramatic middle order collapse followed as Karnataka lost six wickets for 90 runs before H Gopal, who remained not out on 42, bailed them out along with Liyan Khan (25), who shered 52 runs for the seventh wicket.
Kerala found the going tough as they failed to counter More and Suchit. Karun Nair, who supported them well at the other end, took two wickets.
Karnataka are leading the table with 15 points from three wins.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 206/8 in 50 overs (Shashindra K 31, Samarth C 43, Liyan Khan 25, H Gopal 42 n.o., Zeshan Ali 26; Ahmed Fardin 2-30) bt Kerala: 161 all out 43.3 overs (Akshay Kodak 26, Vinu Manoharan 27; Ronit More 3-36, Suchit C 3-15, Karun Nair 2-23).