Karnataka and Railways enter quarter-finals

Bharat Chipli steered Karnataka to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament with a five-wicket win over Haryana at Kanpur . Karnataka got off to a shaky start, losing their first four wickets for 58 runs, before Thilak Naidu joined Chipli at the crease. Chipli finished with an unbeaten 117-ball 90, studded with 12 fours, and, in combination with Naidu (58), polished off the target of 191 with nearly six overs to spare.

Choosing to bat first, Haryana let themselves down after being well placed at 167 for 3 in the 35th over. A major collapse ensued, where they lost the last seven wickets for only 23 runs. Sunny Singh stood out, scoring the bulk of the runs during his stay, but was unfortunate to fall five short of his century. NC Aiyappa and Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka seamers, shared five wickets between them while C Raghu, the offbreak bowler, captured three wickets in an economical spell. Karnataka meet Uttar Pradesh in the quarter-final in three days' time.

An aggressive 81 off only 64 balls by Sanjay Bangar helped Railways storm into the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament at Kanpur, beating Gujarat by eight wickets. Bangar, the captain, struck five fours and five sixes in his knock as he and Tejinder Pal Singh (43*) overhauled the modest target of 149 in the 23rd over. Bangar had a good outing with the ball as well, with figures of 3 for 23 off seven overs after sending Gujarat to bat.

With the exception of Akash Christian, who top-scored with 51, the Gujarat batsmen struggled against a varied attack. Kulamani Parida chipped in with three wickets with his offbreaks as Railways set up a quarter-final clash against Tamil Nadu on March 17.