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Indore: Karnataka got the better of Madhya Pradesh by five wickets to book a berth in the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy on Monday.
After wrapping up Madhya Pradesh quickly on the fourth morning, Karnataka successfully chased down the target of 177 courtesy an unbeaten half century by Amit Verma (68, 125 balls, 10x4). Verma was also Karnataka's top-scorer in the first innings.
Karnataka will meet Baroda in the semifinals which will be played at Vadodara from January 3-6.
Resuming at an overnight score of 312 for seven, Madhya Pradesh could add another 25 runs before being all-out for 337.
The visitors faltered in their run chase with opener KB Pawan (4), Ganesh Sathish (0) and Manish Pandey (9) getting out cheaply, to leave Karnataka struggling at 38 for three at one stage.
But Amit Verma steadied the ship, along with India discard Robin Uthappa (37) as they took the score to 77 before Uthappa was caught by skipper Devendra Bundela off left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma.
Verma, however, first shared a 32-run stand with Stuart Binny (18)
When Binny was dismissed with score at 109 for five, MP still had an outside chance of creating an upset.
However, Verma anchored the innings to perfection and found an able ally in wicketkeeper batsman CM Gautham (31, 5x4) as they added 71 runs for the sixth wicket to ensure an outright win for visitors.
Brief scores
Madhya Pradesh 200 and 337 (Naman Ojha 68, Abbas Ali 64; Sunil Joshi 4/108)
Karnataka 361 and 180 for five (Amit Verma 68*, Robin Uthappa 37; TP Sudhindra 2/34).
Result Karnataka won by five wickets
Status Karnataka reach in semis
