Assam grounded Ranji champions Mumbai by 27 runs while Bengal raced away to a 10-wicket wicket victory over Karnataka in the quarterfinals here on Thursday.
In the semifinals, to be played on Saturday after a day’s rest, Delhi meet Bengal at Port Stadium while Assam face Kerala at ACA-VDCA Stadium.
Put into bat at Port Stadium, Karnataka were bundled out for a poor 127 in 32.1 overs. Veer Pratap Singh (3 for 40) and Sami Ahmed (3 for 32) ran through the Karnataka innings. After Ahmed removed last match centurion K L Rahul for four, Pratap Singh sent back Robin Uthappa and GK Satish to put Karnakata in a spot.
There was more trouble for the South Zone champions as Laxmi Ratan Shukla had CM Gautam (0) caught behind and followed it up with the wicket of Stuart Binny (4). Manish Pandey after hitting a 34-ball 24 was Pratap Singh’s third wicket.
Karun Nair (22) and skipper R Vinay Kumar (20) shared 41 for the seventh wicket to bring some stability to the batting. Nair was soon out to off-spinner I A Saxena while Vinay was bowled by Sanyal. Ahmed hastened Karnataka’s end by sending back Abhimanyu Mithun and Shivalingaiah.
Wriddhiman Saha, with an unbeaten 52 (8x4), and SP Goswami (79-ball 70 not out) steered Bengal to a comprehensive victory. The Assam team continued with their giant-killing act as they humbled Mumbai.
After being dismissed for 178 in 47.4 overs, they successfully defended their small total as Mumbai were skittled out for 151 in 46.5 overs. SA Roy’ hit a 116-ball 69 (6x4) and GK Sharma made a 62-ball 51 (5x4, 1x6) in Assam’s modest total. But that was good as Mumbai fell flat in their chase. Medium pacer Abunechim Ahmed yet again produced a fine spell and took the all-important wicket of Wasim Jaffer, who was bowled for 5.
Rohit Sharma, the other big gun, was out for a duck. He was bowled by AK Das.
Brief scores:
Assam 178 in 47.4 overs ((SA Roy 69, GK Sharma 51, AM Salvi 3 for 25, RP Verma 3 for 32) bt Mumbai 151 in 46.5 overs (SS Shaik 42, AA Chavan 36, Abunechim Ahmed 3-31).
Karnataka 127 in 32.1 overs (MK Pandey 28, Shami Ahmed 3 for 32) lost to Bengal 128-0 in 28.3 overs (WP Saha 52 no, SP Goswami 70 no).