Veteran batter Manish Pandey conjured all his experience to score an unbeaten fifty that helped Karnataka eke out a nervy one-wicket win over Railways on the third day of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing a tricky target of 226 to win, Karnataka huffed their way to 229 for 9 as Pandey stayed unbeaten on 67 off 121 balls with six fours and a six.
Earlier, Railways, who resumed from overnight 209 for eight, were bowled out for 244 in their second innings. Pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar, who later did his bit with bat as well, was the most successful bowler for Karnataka with a fifer (5/67). With this win, Karnataka has topped the Group C with 21 points and are poised to enter the knockouts with two more league matches pending.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu are cruising towards their third out-right win of the season as they dismissed Goa for 168 in the second innings. Skipper R Sai Kishore (4/82) and S Ajith Ram (4/36) shared the spoils yet again as TN were set a target of137 to win. At stumps, the visitors were 61/1 in 26 overs.
At the Moin ul Haq Stadium in Patna, hosts Bihar were staring at a massive defeat at the hands of Andhra at stumps. Bihar were precariously placed at 111/8 in their second innings, trailing by another 170 runs, with Andhra closing in on a victory by an innings.
Bihar had made 182 in the first innings and conceded a 281-run lead after Andhra posted 463, powered by Nithish Kumar Reddy’s 159. In Ranchi, Chhattisgarh conceded a slender 38-run lead against visiting side Kerala, who had taken their overall lead to 100 runs.
Kerala bowled out Chhattisgarh for 312 despite a fine 118 from KD Eknath. For the visitors, Nidheesh MD and Jalaj Saxena took three wickets apiece while Basil Thampi took two.