Vijay Hazare Trophy: Devdutt Padikkal hits 3rd successive hundred as Karnataka seal last-8 berth

Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Devdutt Padikkal continued his red hot form ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 with a third consecutive hundred to help Karanataka sail into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals with a crushing 10-wicket win over Railways in a Group C match in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Young Karanataka batsman had notched his career-best 152 against Odisha and followed it up with 126* versus Kerala in their last outing, hit nine sixes and as many boundaries to score 145* from 125 balls.

The Railways bowlers did very little to trouble the Karnataka opening duo who raced past 200 in 29.5 overs as the seemingly challenging total proved just to be a cakewalk. Padikkal also paced his innings beautifully, taking 60 balls for his fifty and then he stepped up and notched his fifth List A century in the next 34



deliveries.

Another big win took Karnataka back to the top of the Group E table ahead of Uttar Pradesh and Kerala on net run-rate.Karnataka kept taking wickets at regular intervals but the Railways opener stayed calm and ensured that they set a sizeable target.

Earlier Railways rode on opener Pratham Singh's 129 to notch 284/9. Singh hit 12 fours and three sixes in his knock from 138 balls.

Brief Scores:

At M.Chinnaswamy Stadium: Railways 284/9; 50 overs (Pratham Singh 129; Shreyas Gopal 3/41, J Suchith 2/72) lost to Karnataka 285 fo no loss; 40.3 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 145 not out, Ravikumar Samarth 130 not out) by 10 wickets.

At KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Alur: Bihar 148 all out; 40.2 overs (Babul Kumar 64; Sreesanth 4/30, Jalaj Saxena 3/30) lost to Kerala 149/1; 8.5 overs (Robin Uthappa 87 not out, Sanju Samson 24 not out) by nine wickets.