Karnataka beat Andhra, qualify for Wills Trophy

Eventual South Zone Ranji OD champions Karnataka coasted to an easy six wicket victory over Andhra at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk. On winning the toss, Karnataka captain J Arun Kumar put Andhra in to bat, anticipating a situation where net run rate would play a part. If that was the case, Karnataka were hoping to dismiss Andhra cheaply and achieve the target in quick time. As it turned out, the net run rate did not play a part as Hyderabad lost to Goa in their anxiety to score runs in quick time. By virtue of having beaten Tamil Nadu in the league phase, Karnataka wrested the KS Subbiah Pillai Trophy from holders Tamil Nadu.

After putting Andhra in to bat, things did not go quite according to plan. As the Andhra batsmen, led by Amit Pathak (47) began well. The Andhra skipper has been in tremendous form off late. His 47 run blast came off just 37 balls and included 9 hits to the fence. Stumper LNP Reddy made 56, but spent 122 balls getting there and this probably did not help the Andhra cause at all. Fortunately for the Andhra side, KA Faiyaz improvised well, playing the ball all around the park in 47 ball innings that yielded an unbeaten 60. In his company, I Srinivas too flourished, making a useful 33. The Karnataka out fielding on the day was patchy, and several wild throws resulted in overthrows and helped boost the Andhra total. At the end of 50 overs, Andhra had made a fighting 247/4.

While it looked like Karnataka had little chances of winning in quick turn, and in turn qualifying for the Wills Trophy, their skipper J Arunkumar seemed to know something others didn't. Instead of going all out for quick runs, Arunkumar played himself in and helped himself to a half century. When he eventually fell to off spinner Vatekar, Arunkumar had made 56 off 72 balls. The other Karnataka opener Mithun Beerala too played a steady hand. Peppering the onside, Beerala made a fluent 30. GK Anilkumar who made fifties in the previous two matches he played chipped in today as well with 30. Vijay Bharadwaj was at his entertaining best, smiting three huge sixes in a breezy innings. After launching the off spinners over midwicket and straight down the ground, Bharadwaj was caught at long on going for another huge hit. In just 16 balls, Bharadwaj had made 25.

After Bharadwaj departed, B Akhil (64) and Tilak Naidu (36) guided Karnataka to a six wicket victory with over eight overs to spare.