Siddarth Kaul’s double wicket maiden dented Karnataka early on © Getty Images
Punjab 89 for 1 (Prabhsimran 49*, Mandeep 35*) beat Karnataka 87 (Kaul 3-15, Arshdeep 2-16, Sandeep 2-17) by nine wickets
Punjab’s top order chased down their target of 88 with ease after their pace attack of Sandeep Sharma, Arshdeep Singh and Siddarth Kaul took seven wickets between them to rout defending champions Karnataka in the first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarter-final, at the newly-inaugurated Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Medium-pacer Ramandeep Singh also chipped in with two middle-order wickets, and Karnataka never recovered after slipping from 24 for 0 to 26 for 4.
After openers Devdutt Padikkal (11) and Karun Nair (12) handed catches to mid-off within the space of four deliveries, Kaul dismissed Pavan Deshpande for a duck in a double-wicket maiden, Mayank Markande taking a stunning diving catch at midwicket. BR Sharath then edged Arshdeep and Karnataka were four down inside the powerplay. Aniruddha Joshi (27 off 34) and Shreyas Gopal (13 off 11) revived the innings briefly before Ramandeep had Gopal and J Suchith caught behind. Markande bowled Joshi with a googly at the other end, as the last five partnerships managed 15 runs in total, Kaul and Sandeep ending the innings with return catches of Abhimanyu Mithun and Prasidh Krishna. Currently joint-second on the wicket-takers’ list this season with a tally of 13, Kaul finished with stunning figures of 4-1-15-3.
Punjab also lost an early wicket, that of Abhishek Sharma who slashed Mithun straight to point for 4 in the first over, before Prabhsimran Singh and captain Mandeep Singh stitched together an unbeaten stand of 85 off 70 balls. Prabhsimran drove and pulled the fast bowlers with disdain for two fours and three sixes, while Mandeep exhibited some elegant cover drives for his four fours and a six. Prabhsimran ended the game with a pull for six off Gopal in the 13th over.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo