IANS
Chennai, Feb 15: Tamil Nadu assured themselves of the Subbaiah Pillai Trophy cricket when they defeated holders Karnataka by two runs in a thrilling finish in the South Zone one-day tournament, here Sunday.
While Tamil Nadu remained unbeaten after four matches, Karnataka suffered their first defeat in four outings, but both qualified for the All-India Vijay Hazare Trophy competition.
Tamil Nadu have 19 points as against Karnataka's 15 after four rounds of league and the tournament concludes Tuesday after Monday's rest day.
Batting first, Tamil Nadu piled up 316 for eight in 50 overs with all their top-order batsmen, led by opener Abhinav Mukund (89), chipping in with useful scores.
In reply, Karnataka shrugged off the early loss of opener Rosen Jonathan as skipper Robin Uthappa (117, 102b, 12x4, 2x6) and Manish Pandey (57) put on 130 runs for the third wicket. However, a middle-order slump put Karnataka behind before Raju Bhatkal (35 not out) and tailenders took the side close to the target but ran out of overs to finish on 314 for nine.
Meanwhile, Goa, thanks to a century by opener Amit Yadav (119,95b, 8x4,7x6), displayed plenty of pluck to overcome Hyderabad's total of 310 for seven that included a knock of 121 (117b, 14x4, 3x6) by Akshath Reddy, and win by two wickets while Kerala defeated Andhra by six wickets.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 316 for 8 in 50 overs (S Anirudha 43, Abhinav Mukund 89, K B Arun Karthick 27, K Shrivasudevadas 65) beat Karnataka 314 for 9 in 50 Overs (Robin Uthappa 117, Manish Pandey 57, Rajoo Bhatkal 35 not out, R Suthesh 3 for 51) by 2 runs.
Hyderabad 310 for 7 in 50 overs (Akshath Reddy 121, AT.Rayudu 76, Neeraj Bist 63, Saurabh Bhandekar 3 for 45) lost to Goa 311 for 8 in 48.5 overs (Amit Yadav 119, S Sriram 48, Amol Shindey 3 for 55) by 2 wickets.
Andhra 269 for 7 in 50 overs (Y Venugopal Rao 113, V Manoj Sai 44, Y Gnaneswara Rao 67, Prashanth Parameshwaran 3 for 46) lost to Kerala 271 for 4 in 47.4 overs (Abhishek Hegde 42, VA.Jagadeesh 105 not out 105, Robert Fernandez 62 , P Prashanth Not out 41) by 6 wickets.