Riding on Karun Nair's fine century and a brilliant bowling display from Pravin Dubey, Karnataka ended Tamil Nadu's winning streak with a 78-run win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 tournament on Friday. While Karun Nair scored 111, leggie Pravin Dubey scalped four wickets. Nair's knock helped his team post a competitive total of 179 for 9 in 20 overs after being sent in to bat by Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar. In reply, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 101 in 16.3 overs. No other Karnataka batsman except for Naircould cross the 20-run mark. Nair, during his innings, hit eight fours and as many sixes.
The only significant partnership was the one between Nair and R Samarth for the third wicket, which yield 83 runs. The centurion kept going despite the team losing wickets at regular intervals.
Rookie slinger Athisayaraj Davidson with a five-wicket haul played a huge role in restricting Karnataka to 179 after they looked set for a big score at one stage.
Nair was among his victims as he ran through the lower order to finish with 5 for 30.
Tamil Nadu was in early trouble during the chase, losing opener Abhinav Mukund (1) and the prolific Dinesh Karthik (0), who had scored three successive fifties, to a run-out in the first two overs.
Despite a 48-run partnership between MS Washington Sundar (34) and Shankar (20), things went downhill for Tamil Nadu after they were separated.
Dubey, who ended Sundar's stay, took three other wickets including that of the aggressive N Jagadeesan (16) to send Tamil Nadu hurtling to defeat.
Meanwhile in matches played at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh beat Hyderabad by six wickets riding on Ricky Bhui's 73, while Kerala outplayed Goa by nine wickets.
Three teams - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra - have 12 points after four games while Hyderabad has 8 and Kerala (4).
-- Rishabh Pant Fires As Delhi Crush Jammu and Kashmir --
Former captain Rishabh Pant made short work of a below-par Jammu and Kashmir with a 33-ball-51 as Delhi won their second Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 match by eight wickets. Delhi outclassed the wooden spooners of North Zone in all departments, never taking their foot off the pedal while chasing a paltry target of 101 in 11.3 overs.
Among the Delhi bowlers, left-arm spinner Pawan Negi (3/27 in 4 overs) was the most successful.
Rishabh hit a couple of straight sixes, including one off opposite number Parveez Rasool, which landed on the top-most tier of the Feroz Shah Kotla stand.
Senior opener Gautam Gambhir, for only the sixth time in his 276-match T20 career, did not come to open the innings as Ranjan was given that opportunity.
He did hit three boundaries apart from two sixes. The first of the two sixes was a catch that was taken by the fielder at long-on, but he crossed the boundary ropes after losing his balance.
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