Tamil Nadu and Kerala qualified for the knockout phase of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament after their Group C matches here on Wednesday were washed out.
Sent in to bat by Tamil Nadu captain B Indrajith, Kerala made 287 for 8 in 50 overs, thanks to a 95-run knock by Vathsal Govind (126 balls, 6 fours) and useful contributions from Vishnu Vinod (45), Abdul Basith (41) and Rohan Kunnumal (39).
Openers P Rahul (16) and Rohan Kunnummal (39) provided a rapid start for Kerala, taking the score to 44 in 5.3 overs before the former fell to M Mohammed (2/51).
Vathsal Govind joined Rohan and added 34 runs before the latter was castled by R Sai Kishore (1/46).
Though skipper Sachin Baby fell after making only 4, Vishnu Vinod (45) and Vatshal Govind were involved in a 78-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Handy knocks by Abdul Basith (41, 35 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) and a four-ball 15 (2 fours, 1 six) by Nedumanuzkhy Basil (41) towards the end boosted Kerala's score to 287.
When Tamil Nadu began their chase, all eyes were on the record-breaking pair of N Jagadeesan and B Sai Sudharsan.
However, Sudharsan fell to Vaisakh Chandran for 5.
Jagadeesn, fresh after a world record 277 in the previous game against Arunachal Pradesh was on 23 (21 balls, 3 fours) with the score on 43 for 1 (7 overs) when rain halted proceedings and forced the game to be called off.
Jagadeesan and Sudharsan had put on 416 for the opening wicket on Wednesday for a new List A record.
Tamil Nadu with five wins from seven games and two no-results topped the group with 24 points while Kerala finished second with 20 (4 wins, 1 loss and 2 no-results).
Andhra's defeat to Chhattisgarh in the final game on Wednesday hurt their chances of advancing to the next phase and they finished with 18 points.
As the group topper, Tamil Nadu secured a berth in the quarterfinals while Kerala would play the pre-quarterfinals.
Punjab, J&K qualify
Mumbai: Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir qualified for the knock-out stages of the Vijay Hazare Trophy from Group D with convincing wins over their respective rivals.
While Punjab beat Nagaland by six wickets, Jammu and Kashmir defeated Uttarakhand by nine wickets.
In another Group D match at the D Y Patil Satdium in Navi Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh defeated Baroda by a massive 290 runs.
Assam, K’taka win
Kolkata: Assam and Karnataka qualified for the knock-out stage of the Vizay Hazare Trophy from Group B after winning their respective matches.
Both ended on 24 points with identical six wins and a loss but Karnataka topped group on better net run rate of 1.721 as against 1.360 of Assam.
Assam beat Delhi by 25 runs in their last group match to notch up their fifth win on the trot.
In another match here, Karnataka thrashed Rajasthan by 60 runs.
Saurashtra, UP in K/O
New Delhi: Former champions Saurashtra and Uttar Pradesh advanced to the knock-out stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy from group A.
Four teams ended with 20 points each at the end of the group stage matches. However, Saurashtra (1.737) and Uttar Pradesh (0.604) qualified for knock-outs based on superior net run rate than Hyderabad (0.513) and Chandigarh (-0.031).
Akshdeep Nath and Saurabh Kumar scored fifties to help Uttar Pradesh notch a two-wicket win over Saurashtra.
In another match, Hyderabad thrashed Chandigarh by 110 runs.
Gujarat hammered defending champions Himachal Pradesh by eight wickets while Tripura inflicted a 240-run defeat on Manipur in the other
games.
