New Delhi: Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane hit fluent half-centuries as Mumbai advanced to the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after spanking Karnataka by nine wickets at the Feroze Shah Kotla.
Electing to field after skipper Ajit Agarkar won the toss, Mumbai restricted Karnataka to 178 for nine in their stipulated 50 overs with Kshemal Waingankar taking three wickets for 19 and Ankeet Chavan two for 29.
Chasing a modest target of 179, Mumbai rode on Rahane`s unbeaten 71 off 80 balls and Jaffer`s 61-ball 68 to romp home in 29.1 overs. While Rahane`s innings included nine hits to the fence, Jaffer`s knock included 10 fours and two sixes.
Mumbai`s India batsman Rohit Sharma did not get the opportunity to bat although he made his presence felt on the field with a sharp catch of Karnataka skipper Robin Uthappa and contributing in the run-out of Abhimanyu Mithun.
Karnataka suffered a stunning batting collapse on a two-paced wicket as half of the team was seen cooling heels inside 17 overs.
At one stage, it looked as if Karnataka would not be able to cross the 100-run mark with the scoreline reading 57 for six. The pace trio of Agarkar, Dhawal Kulkarni and Waingankar rattled Karnataka`s top and middle-order batting line-up, which also included the wickets of Uthappa (30), Manish Pandey (0) and Stuart Binny (5).
Sunil Raju (30) and Raju Bhatkal (38) steadied the ship for Karnataka and resurrected the innings with a 73-run stand for the seventh wicket before left-arm spinner Chavan dismissed both the batsmen in quick succession to shatter the southern state`s hopes of making a comeback.
Abrar Kazi (22 not out) and Mithun (11) ensured Karnataka cross the 150-run mark but it proved insufficient in the end.
Rahane and Jaffer gave ample evidence of their batting capabilities while chasing the modest target and scored boundaries with ease.
Jaffer was bowled by Kazi (1/45) in the 19th over but Rahane and Sushant Marathe (31 not out) ensured that there were no more causalities.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2012, 18:43