Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka thrash Jharkhand, set up quarterfinal against Punjab

Ahmedabad: Pace trio of Ronit More, Vidwath Kaverappa, and M Venkatesh grabbed three wickets each as Karnakata thrashed Jharkhand by five wickets in a low-scoring affair to cruise into Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals here on Saturday.

Kaverappa (3/20) and More (3/31) started it all with a perfect bowling display inside the Powerplay overs before Venaktesh (3/51) seized control in the middle overs to wrap up Jharkhand innings for 187 in 47.1 overs.

Karnataka stuttered a bit in their run chase but opener Ravikumar Samarth (53) and No. 3 batter Nikin Jose (63 not out) steered the side home with 55 balls to spare.

Karnataka will now face Punjab in their last-eight fixture here on Monday.

Earlier, More and Kaverappa produced a terrific bowling display to reduce Jharkhand to 29/3. Openers Arnav Singha and Utkarsh Singh failed to open their accounts, while Saurabh Tiwary (1) and Shahbaz Nadeem (22) also fell cheaply.

Half of their side was out for 40 runs in 13.3 overs but wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra (74) and Anukul Roy (57) gave them some respite with a 115-run partnership.

Brief Scores Jharkhand 187; 47.1 overs (Kumar Kushagra 74, Anukul Roy 57; Vidhwath Kaverappa 3/20, Ronit More 3/31, M Venkatesh 3/51) lost to Karnataka 188/5; 40.5 overs (Nikin Jose 63 not out, Ravikumar Samarth 53; Rahul Shukla 2/44) by five wickets.