Karnataka win in Super Over while Tamil Nadu, Vidarbha and Hyderabad cruise into semi-finals

Karnataka 160 for 5 (Nair 55*, W Chatterjee 1-23) tied with Bengal 160 for 8 (W Chatterjee 51, Roy Chowdhury 36*, Darshan 3-26)
Super over Karnataka 8 for 0 beat Bengal 5 for 2

Ritwik Roy Chowdhury's unbeaten 18-ball 36 went in vain for Bengal as Karnataka's Manish Pandey effected a final-ball run out in the second quarter-final to take the game into a Super Over when the scores were level. In the Super Over, Bengal capitulated to lose their two wickets for only five runs, which Karnataka surpassed easily to secure their place in the semi-final.

Chasing 161, Bengal started their innings with 20 off the first over, but slowed down as Shreevats Goswami, Abhishek Das and Sudip Chatterjee fell inside the powerplay. Writtick Chatterjee, the No. 3, then scored 51 in 40 balls, but his dismissal - along with the wickets of Kaif Ahmed and Shahbaz Ahmed - brought Karnataka back into the contest.

However, Roy Chowdhury nearly won Bengal the match when they needed 20 to win off the final over off seamer Vidyadhar Patil. Roy Chowdhury started the over with two sixes followed by a single, after which No. 9 Akash Deep hit a four and ran a double to bring the equation to one run off one ball. But, Deep was run out trying to pinch a single off the final ball courtesy Pandey's direct hit.

In the Super Over, Roy Chowdhury was stranded at the non-striker's end, facing zero balls. Kaif was out for a duck, and Goswami was run-out for 5 while trying to pinch a second run. Pandey took just two balls to chase the target down and ended the game with a six over midwicket.

That Bengal had to chase 161 was courtesy Karun Nair's unbeaten 55 off just 29 balls. Karnataka's scoring rate hovered around six for most of the innings, but they accelerated towards the death overs. Nair hit three sixes and four fours and the late boost was provided by Abhinav Manohar, who scored 19 off nine balls, and Aniruddha Joshi, who scored 16 off 10.

Sanjay Yadav's 32 off 22 and a nine-ball unbeaten 19 in the death from Shahrukh Khan sealed a chase of 182 for defending champions Tamil Nadu in the first quarter-final against Kerala, with three balls to spare.

TN needed exactly 50 from the last five overs, and Sanjay and Shahrukh struck a combined three sixes and a four in the next three overs to bring the equation down to a more comfortable 14 off 12 and later four off the last over.

Sai Sudharsan top-scored for them, hitting seven fours in his 31-ball 46, and there were handy contributions from Hari Nishaanth (32 of 22) and captain Vijay Shankar (33 off 26) as well.

Although Kerala's left-arm seamer Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan took 3 for 26, he did not find support from his team-mates.

Kerala's innings began with a 45-run opening stand between Rohan Kunnummal (51) and Mohammed Azharuddeen. Kunnummal added another 46 for the second wicket with Sachin Baby (33), but two wickets at the score of 91 off Sanjay's left-arm spin jolted Kerala as they lost captain Sanju Samson for a duck.

No. 5 Vishnu Vinod then smacked an unbeaten 65 off just 26 balls, at a strike rate of 250. In the last three overs, Kerala smashed 62 runs - featuring seven sixes and a four - to reach 181 for 4, but the late rally wasn't enough.

After Tilak Varma cracked a 50-ball 75 to take Hyderabad to 158, their bowlers rallied to restrict Gujarat to 128 and seal a semi-final spot in the fourth quarter-final. Ravi Teja, the right-arm seamer, was Hyderabad's standout bowler with three wickets for 27 runs while left-arm seamer Chama Milind took two wickets for 28.

It was the two early wickets from Milind and Teja that rocked Gujarat's chase. Saurav Chauhan was then run-out for 9 to leave Gujarat reeling at 33 for 3 after eight overs. Although Het Patel (25), Piyush Chawla (25) and Ripal Patel (35) contributed from the lower-middle order, the slow scoring rate in the first eight overs meant Gujarat were hardly in control of the chase.

For Hyderabad, Tilak - the team's most consistent batter this season so far - hit five fours and two sixes for a strike rate of 150. He was supported by captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal's 21-ball 31. The death-overs fireworks were provided by Rahul Buddhi, whose unbeaten 16-ball 25 took Hyderabad past 150.

Vidarbha's well-rounded bowling attack rattled Rajasthan in the morning game and secured their semi-final spot with a comfortable nine-wicket win in the third quarter-final. Ambidextrous spinner Akshay Karnewar's four overs for only seven runs strangled Rajasthan after they were 18 for 5 inside the powerplay.

Rajasthan's recovery was slow and they managed only 84 for 8. Thirty-nine of those came off Kamlesh Nagarkoti's bat from No. 5, as he stayed unbeaten. Only two other Rajasthan batters - Mahipal Lomror and wicketkeeper Suraj Ahuja could score in double digits.

The eight wickets that Vidarbha took were shared by every bowler, with right-arm seamer Yash Thakur taking two and the rest collecting one each. No Vidarbha bowler had an economy of more than six an over.

Rajasthan gave the new ball to Ravi Bishnoi, but he had a wicketless run as Vidarbha openers Atharva Taide (40*) and Ganesh Satish (28) put on a 63-run stand. Vidarbha captain and No. 3 Akshay Wadkar and Taide then finished the game off with 31 balls to spare.