Karnataka settled for a draw against Chandigarh in the final Ranji Trophy league engagement. They did not push harder for a win to avoid facing nemesis Saurashtra in the quarterfinals. Karnataka will now face Vidarbha in the quarterfinals.
Karnataka sealed their spot in the knockout round of the Ranji Trophy by batting Chandigarh out of the contest in their final league fixture. Vyshak Vijaykumar and Sharath Srinivas scored centuries, while Hardik Raj hit his second straight half-century. Karnataka declared at 563 for 5, with a lead of 296. They added 198 runs for the sixth wicket. Chandigarh's openers wiped off 61 runs of the deficit in 66 deliveries.
Read about Manish Pandey's century that puts Karnataka ahead in the Ranji Trophy match against Chandigarh. With Pandey and Hardik settled, the hosts will look to build on the duo's form.
With Chandigarh at 8/2 in the sixth over, Karnataka bowlers had the early advantage. Two overs later they had the opportunity to scalp new bat Karan Kaila (79, 207b, 9x4). With the batter at 1 and the team score at 15/2, his drive to the covers was collected by Manish Pandey and dispatched to wicketkeeper Sharath Srinivas. Even as Kaila was well off the crease, Srinivas failed to gather the ball in time and hit the stumps.