Devdutt Padikkal continued his brilliant form ahead of the IPL with a third successive century as defending champions reached the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a 10-wicket win over Railways.
Young Karnataka sensation Devdutt Padikkal continued his brilliant form ahead of the IPL with a third successive century as defending champions Vijay Hazare reached the quarter-finals with a one-sided 10-wicket win over Railways in Group C in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore opener, who scored a career-best 152 against Odisha and scored 126 not out against Kerala in his final outing, hit nine sixes and scored an unbeaten 145 off 125 balls.
The 20-year-old left-hander had the company of his captain Ravikumar Samarth who scored an unbeaten century (130 not out from 118 balls; 17×4) as the opening pair won with a 285-run win off 57 balls. M. of Bengaluru. At the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The big win ensured that they topped Group-C to qualify in the final-eight while Uttar Pradesh finished second after their six-wicket win over Odisha at Just Cricket Academy.
Paddikkal, who also has two half-centuries to his name, now has the highest 572 runs of the season, averaging 190.66 in five matches.
Railway bowlers made little attempt to upset the Karnataka pair, who reached beyond 200 runs in 29.5 overs as it proved to be a challenging total as it was just a cavalcade.
Padikkal also progressed his innings beautifully, scoring his fifty off 60 balls and then going on to score his fifth List A century in the next 34 balls.
First Railways scored 284/9 on 129 from opener Pratham Singh. Singh hit 12 fours and three sixes in an innings of 138 balls.
Karnataka kept taking wickets at regular intervals but the railway opener remained calm and ensured that they set a big target.
Brief Scores:
M. At Chinnaswamy Stadium: Railway 284/9; 50 overs (Pratham Singh 129; Shreyas Gopal 3/41, J Suchit 2/72) lost to Karnataka 285 without loss; 40.3 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 145 runs, Ravikumar Samarth 130 not out) by 10 wickets.
At KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Alur: Bihar 148 All Out; 40.2 overs (Babul Kumar 64; Sreesanth 4/30, Jalaj Saxena 3/30) lost to Kerala 149/1; 8.5 overs (Robin Uthappa 87 runs off nine, Sanju Samson not out 24).
At Just Cricket Academy Ground: Odisha 148 All Out; 40.1 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 49 not out, Rakesh Patnaik 46; Shivam Sharma 6/22) lost to Uttar Pradesh 150/4; 21.4 overs (Upendra Yadav 32, Sameer Chaudhary 29 not out) by six wickets.
