SMAT: Siddharth Kaul, Prabhsimran star as Punjab beat defending champs Karnataka to reach semis

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], January 26 (ANI): Siddharth Kaul's three-wicket haul and Prabhsimran Singh's unbeaten 49-run knock helped Punjab defeat defending champions Karnataka by nine wickets in the first quarter-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Tuesday here at the Motera Stadium.
While Karnataka has been knocked out, Punjab progressed to the semi-finals. Later in the day, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh will be in action in the second quarter-final. Punjab will now face the winner of the Baroda-Haryana match in the second semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Friday.
Chasing 88, Punjab failed to get off to a good start as the side lost Abhishek Sharma (4) in the very first over of the innings. The left-handed batter was sent back to the pavilion by Abhimanyu Mithun.
Mandeep Singh then joined Prabhsimran Singh in the middle and the duo retrieved the innings for Punjab. Both batsmen mixed caution with aggression and in the end, they took the side over the line with 44 balls to spare. Mandeep and Simran remained unbeaten on 35 and 49 respectively and their partnership stood at an unbeaten 85.
Earlier, Siddharth's show with the ball helped Punjab bundle out Karnataka for 87.
Put in to bat first, Karnataka got off to a bad start as the side lost its first four wickets inside the powerplay overs. Devdutt Padikkal (11), Karun Nair (12), Sharath BR (2), and Pavan Deshpande (0) all failed to leave a mark and Karanataka found the score reading 37/4 after the first six overs.
Shreyas Gopal and Aniruddha Joshi put together a brief stand of 25 runs, but as soon as the duo started looking comfortable at the crease, Punjab struck back as Ramandeep Singh dismissed Gopal (13), reducing Karantaka to 51/5 in the eighth over.
Aniruddha went on to play a knock of 27 runs from 33 balls, but his vigil also came to an end in the 15th over as he was cleaned up by Mayank Markande. The lower-order was also not able to contribute much, and as a result, Karnataka was bundled out for 87.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 87 (Aniruddha Joshi 27, Shreyas Gopal 13; Siddharth Kaul 3-15); Punjab 89/1 (Prabhsimran Singh 49*, Mandeep Singh 35*; Abhimanyu Mithun 1-11). (ANI)