Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Karnataka settles for draw with Chandigarh, to face Vidarbha in quarterfinals

Karnataka stepped off the gasoline to accept a draw in opposition to Chandigarh in its final Ranji Trophy group outing right here on Monday.

Karnataka (27 factors) completed second in Elite Group ‘C’, and can tackle Elite Group ‘A’ topper Vidarbha within the quarterfinal.

Had Karnataka recorded a win, the aspect would have confronted bugbear Saurashtra within the last-eight (at Mysuru). Karnataka’s latest observe report in opposition to Saurashtra has been poor, having misplaced 4 of their final 5 First Class conferences.

Karnataka’s listless manner on the sphere on Monday led to strategies that the unit was completely happy to avert a conflict with Saurashtra.

There was no seen push to go for victory. The residence workforce took frequent breaks, which ultimately required the umpires to step in.

With Chandigarh at 236 for 5, trailing by 60 runs, the perimeters agreed to a draw an hour forward of the scheduled shut of play.

Vidarbha, in fact, can’t be taken evenly. Karnataka will keep in mind the defeat it suffered by the hands of Faiz Fazal’s Vidarbha within the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy semifinal at Kolkata.

Asked if a possible match in opposition to Saurashtra performed on the thoughts, Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal mentioned, “No. Obviously Saurashtra is a good team. History is history.. People might rely on something like that, but not me. It (knockouts) is a new game, and everyone starts afresh.”

“Honestly the opposition does not matter. We would have liked to top the table and get full points here. We gave our best, but we had a few limitations with injuries,” Mayank mentioned.

For Chandigarh, with no likelihood of advance to the knockout rounds, it will rely as a creditable stalemate.