Jammu and Kashmir extended their dream run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to the quarterfinals as they knocked Kerala out from the tournament with a seven-wicket win, on Saturday. In-form Auqib Nabi led the show with his career-best haul of 4/39, helping J&K skittle out Kerala for a paltry 174 in 47.4 overs after they opted to field in their first-ever Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout match. In reply, J&K cantered home in 37.5 overs with Shubham Khajuria (76) and Qamran Iqbal (51) setting up win with their 113-run opening stand in 21.4 overs.
In the form of his life, Khajuria smashed six sixes and five fours in his 61-ball knock, which was his fourth half-century on the trot this season.
However, he was run out for a second consecutive time as J&K lost three wickets for the addition of just 32 runs. But there was no scoreboard pressure and Henan Nazir and Fazil Rashid sealed their sixth win from seven matches this season.
J&K will now face group B toppers Assam in their quarterfinal here on Monday.
The J&K pace trio of Nabi, Yudhvir Singh (2/16) and left-arm pacer Mujtaba Yousuf (1/37) accounted for seven batters as Kerala struggled to get going.
Opener Vinoop Maoharan top-scored for Kerala with a 81-ball 62 but Yudhvir dismissed him to trigger the collapse in the 32nd over, before Nabi wreaked havoc with a dream spell.
With 12 wickets apiece from seven matches, Nabi and Yudhvir have done exceptionally well for J&K this season.
The Ajay Sharma-coached side had upset reigning Ranji champions Madhya Pradesh, chasing down a massive 343 with two wickets in hand.
They also defeated Baroda, Odisha and Nagaland with little fuss.
Their only defeat came against group D toppers Punjab as they finished second in the league stage.
Brief Scores Kerala: 174 all out in 47.4 overs (Vinoop Manoharan 62, Sijomon Joseph 32; Auqib Nabi 4/39, Yudhvir Singh 2/16) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 175/3 in 37.5 overs (Shubham Khajuria 76, Qamran Iqbal 51; Sijomon Joseph 2/19) by seven wickets.
UP thrash depleted Mumbai
Uttar Pradesh took full advantage of an under-strength Mumbai side as they romped home by eight wickets in a lopsided pre-quarterfinal match. UP bowlers, led by pacers Shivam Mavi (4/41) and Kartik Tyagi (2/43) and ably assisted by left-arm spinner Shiva Singh (2/43), restricted Mumbai to a below-par 220 all out on a fine batting pitch.
The chase was a cakewalk as keeper-opener Aryan Juyal (82 off 103 balls) anchored it with useful contributions from fellow opener Madhav Kaushik (46 off 75 balls) and skipper Karan Sharma (42 not out off 38 balls).
UP won the match with 26 balls to spare and will now face Maharashtra in the quarterfinal.
For Mumbai, missing out flamboyant opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and the dangerous Sarfaraz Ahmed (both on India A tour of Bangladesh) due to national commitments did have its effect as neither Prithvi Shaw (10) nor skipper Ajinkya Rahane (26 off 39 balls) could make a difference on the big day.
While Shaw was cleaned up by Mavi as he tried to play across the line, Rahane loosely drove away from his body to a fuller ‘fifth off-stump’ line delivery from Tyagi.
Mumbai were at one stage tottering at 94 for five after spinners Shiva and Shivam Sharma dismissed Arman Jaffer (32) and Suved Parkar (13) with arm balls.
Suved was gone trying to cut a delivery close to the stumps while Jaffer played to the wrong line and was out LBW.
However, Mumbai’s crisis man Shams Mulani (51 off 70 balls) and keeper-batter Hardik Tamore (53 off 67 balls) added 103 runs for the sixth wicket which helped the current Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 champions cross the 200-run mark.
But once Tamore was out trying to hit a second six off Shiva, the last five Mumbai wickets fell for a mere 23 runs with no resistance from the lower order.
With no scoreboard pressure on them, UP openers Madhav and Aryan added 119 runs in 25 overs to set the tone. Aryan was more attacking with 10 boundaries while his partner had three fours and a six to his credit.
In fact, Priyam Garg (39 not out) and skipper Karan added 63 runs for the unbroken third wicket stand in just under 12 overs to knock off the required runs with minimum fuss.
Brief Scores: Mumbai: 220 all out in 48.3 overs (Hardik Tamore 53, Shams Mulani 51, Shivam Mavi 4/41, Shiva Singh 2/43, Kartik Tyagi 2/43).
Uttar Pradesh: 221 for 2 in 45.4 overs (Aryan Juyal 82, Madhav Kaushik 46).
UP won by 8 wkts.
Karnataka thrash Jharkhand
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. 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.
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