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Karnataka, Kerala reach final of Buchi Babu tourney

Last year`s runner-up Kerala will take on Karnataka in the final of the All India BCCI Buchi Babu Cricket tournament to be played here on Sunday.

Chennai: Last year`s runner-up Kerala will take on Karnataka in the final of the All India BCCI Buchi Babu Cricket tournament to be played here on Sunday.
Kerala defeat Baroda by 57 runs in their semi-final match, while Karnakata qualified for the final with a five wicket win over Mumbai. Batting first Kerala scored 401 in their stipulated quota of 90 overs with Robert Fernandez (122) and Sachin Baby (151) cracking a century each to help their side pose a challenging total. Baroda looked in the hunt with Aditya Waghmode (139) first sharing a 78-run stand with Dhiren Mistry (34) for the first wicket and then combining with Abhimanyu Chauhan (75) to raise 136 runs for the third wicket. However, off-spinner S Anish pegged back Baroda with a match haul of 6/97 to help his team reach the finals. Anish was well supported by left-arm spinner K R Sreejith who accounted for three wickets. Meanwhile, in the other semi-final encounter Karnatka raced home with five wickets to spare, courtesy an unbeaten 94-run knock by C M Gautham and a brilliant half-century by skipper Ganesh Satish (83). Chasing a victory target of 304 to win Karnataka started off well with Robin Uthappa (54) and Manish Pandey (35) scoring at brisk rate, however, a their loss saw Karnatka losing the grip over the match before the skipper combined together with Gautham to see their team through. The duo put on 155 runs for the fifth wicket. For Mumbai Onninder Singh Gill took a couple of wickets. Earlier Mumbai were held back through some disciplined bowling performance from leg-spinner Amit Verma (5/78) and K P Appanna (3/76) after Kaustubh Pawar (97) and Nikhil Patil (83) hit contrasting half-centuries to set the Mumbai for an imposing total. Brief Scores Kerala: 401 for nine in 90 Overs (Robert Fernandez 122, Sachin Baby 1512; Bharghav Bhatt 4/123) Baroda: 344 all out in 79.3 Overs (Aditya Wagmode 139, Abhimanyu Chauhan 75; S Anish 6/97, K R Sreejith 3/114) Mumbai: 303 all out in 90 Overs (Kaustubh Pawar 97, Nikhil Patil (Jr) 83; Amit Verma 5/78, K P Appanna 3/76) Karnataka: 306 for five in 67.5 Overs (Ganesh Satish 83, C M Gautham 94 not out; Onninder Singh Gill 2/74). PTI