Karnataka ended Puducherry's dream run by a smooth run chase at home in Bangalore. Manish Pandey inserted Puducherry sighting early assistance for pacers, and the movement provided by the pitch indeed aided them. The visitors - a newly formed side in the domestic circuit as part of the Plate Group - had no answers for the experience of Abhimanyu Mithun and the guile of leg-spinner Praveen Dubey, finding themselves at 41 for 6 at one stage. But Sagar Trivedi and V Marimuthu started the repair job with a partnership of 76 before Trivedi perished for 54 off 60 balls, including 5 fours and 2 sixes. But Marimuthu held one end up alongside number nine Fabid Ahmed to add another 58. Marimuthu got 58 before Ahmed smashed 37 for Puducherry to finish on 207 for 9.
In reply, Karnataka's openers KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal began aggressively, helped by the shining sun on the surface. Their stand of 98 was broken in the nineteenth over when Sagar Udeshi had Padikkal caught for 50 off 54 balls. But the in-form Rahul continued the charge in the company of Rohan Kadam, stitching a match-deciding partnership of 88 only to miss out on a century. Though Udeshi trapped Rahul lbw for 90, Pandey came out to hit 20* off 12 balls before Kadam sealed the game with a four and a six to end on 50* of his own.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 225 for 4 in 37.5 overs (Panchal 80, P Patel 76; Simarjeet 2/54) beat Delhi 223 in 49 overs (Shorey 91; Gaja 3/27, Nagwaswalla 3/75) by 6 wickets via VJD method
Delhi skipper Dhruv Shorey found little support from his batting colleagues, with his 91 going in vain against Gujarat at Bangalore. After Chintan Gaja had sent back openers Shikhar Dhawan and Anuj Rawat cheaply, Shorey joined hands with Nitish Rana to stabilize the innings. But Gaja sent Rana back for 33 and from 107 for 2 at one stage, Delhi folded up for 223 in a game reduced to 49 overs. Himmat Singh and Lalit Yadav threw away starts as left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla got into the act to dismiss both after getting the big scalp of Shorey. Piyush Chawla helped remove the lower-order and while Subodh Bhati hit a cameo, Delhi were bowled out for a below score.
Gujarat's left-right opening combination of captain Parthiv Patel and India hopeful Priyank Panchal was enough to all but decide the result of the game. Both batted positively and with attacking intent to post a match-winning partnership of 150. Parthiv was the aggressor in a knock of 76 off 60 balls, smashing 10 fours and a six on the way. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Manan Sharma, with the run rate beyond six and Panchal continued from where Parthiv had left off. He got his second half-century of the season in an innings of 80, and though Gujarat lost three quick wickets thereafter, it was too late to stop them from chasing a revised target of 225.
Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20: Comfortable victories for Karnataka, Gujarat in Q/F
Brief Scores: Karnataka 213 for 2 in 41 overs (Rahul 90, Padikkal 50; Udeshi 2/47) beat Puducherry 207 for 9 in 50 overs (Marimuthu 58, Trivedi 54; Dubey 3/44) by 8 wickets