NEW DELHI: Devdutt Padikkal struck his second successive century, while Karun Nair followed it up with a run a ball hundred as defending champions Karnataka cruised to an eight wicket win over Kerala in their second Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Friday.

Karnataka, who had beaten Jharkhand in their opening game, chose to field after winning the toss and kept Kerala to 284 for 7.

Kerala were in early trouble after slipping to 49 for 3, but Baba Aparajith steadied the innings with 71 off 62 balls. Wicket keeper Mohammed Azharuddeen then played a brisk knock of 84 off 58 to push Kerala to a competitive total.

Left arm pacer Abhilash Shetty returned figures of 3/59, while Shreyas Gopal chipped in with two wickets for Karnataka.

In the chase, Karnataka lost skipper Mayank Agarwal early, but Padikkal and Nair took full control. The pair added a match winning 223 runs for the second wicket off 234 balls, helping the holders complete the chase in 48.2 overs.

In form MP stay perfect in Group A

Madhya Pradesh registered their second win in as many matches after edging past Tamil Nadu by two wickets in a tight contest to go top of Group A.

Asked to bat, Tamil Nadu got off to a solid start as Sai Sudharsan and captain Narayan Jagadeesan put on 115 runs for the opening stand. Mohamed Ali and Sunny Sandhu added useful runs later as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 280 in 49.3 overs.

Kumar Kartikeya led the bowling with figures of 3/62, while Tripuresh Singh and Mangesh Yadav provided good support.

In reply, Yash Dubey and wicket keeper Himanshu Mantri stitched a crucial 178 run stand for the second wicket. Their efforts guided Madhya Pradesh to 283 for 8 with four balls to spare.

Jharkhand and Tripura claim big wins

Jharkhand bounced back strongly from their opening loss to Karnataka, defeating Rajasthan by 73 runs to open their account in the group. Opener Shikhar Mohan starred with a fine 129 off 118 balls, while Anukul Roy’s quick 52 helped Jharkhand post 301, a total they defended comfortably as Rajasthan were bowled out for 228 despite Karan Lamba’s 102.

Tripura also registered their first win of the tournament with a dominant seven wicket victory over Puducherry. Puducherry were dismissed for 150, and Tripura chased down the target with ease in 32.3 overs, led by Udiyan Bose’s 53 and an unbeaten 47 from Vijay Shankar.

(With PTI Inputs)