Orissa shocked Karnataka by six wickets in a high-scoring match to earn a quarter-final meeting with holders Mumbai in the Ranji One-Day knock-out tournament at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Put into bat, Karnataka got off to a flying start and when they seemed all set to cross the 300-mark, Orissa applied the skids, restricting them to 284 for 9 in 50 overs.
Orissa then raced to the target, thanks to an opening stand of 83, off only 51 balls, between B B C C Mahapatra, who hit 50 in only 26 balls with the help of four sixes and five fours, and Shiv Sundar Das (82 retired, off 66 balls).
After the departure of Mahapatra, Das, who hit 14 fours, and one-down Rashmi Ranjan Parida, who scored 53 off 77 balls, took the score to 172 when the former was forced to retire due to cramps.
Karnataka seized the opportunity to strike three quick blows and reduce Orissa to 211 for 4 in the 34th over when Niranjan Behera and P Jayachandra got together. They shared 74 runs between them as Orissa reached the target with 28 balls to spare.
Behera remained unconquered on 33 from 38 balls while Jayachandra, who struck leg break bowler Barrington Rowland for two successive sixes, was not out with a run-a-ball 35 that also included two fours.
Earlier, Rowland scored a fine 104 off 123 balls, inclusive of eight fours, and put on 153 runs in 150 balls for the second wicket with Sujit Somasunder, who smashed 77 in as many balls with seven fours and two sixes, before the innings lost momentum.
The quarter-final between Orissa and Mumbai will be played on Saturday.
Scoreboard
Karnataka:
R Uthappa run out 32
B Rowland c Jayachandra b Behera 104
S Somasunder c Mallick b Behera 77
J Arun Kumar c Mahapatra b Raul 5
B Akhil b Behera 4
S Binny run out 35
T Naidu c Das b Behera 8
S Joshi c Pradhan b Satpathy 3
D Ganesh not out 2
C Raghu run out 1
Extras: (lb 3, nb 2, w 8) 13
Total: (for 9 wkts in 50 overs) 284
Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-220, 3-229, 4-231, 5-237, 6-267, 7-272, 8-283, 9-284
Bowling: Mohanty 7-0-19-0, Mangaraj 6-1-32-0, Behera 10-0-61-4 Mallick 5-0-33-0, Satpathy 6-0-32-1, Jayachandra 3-0-22-0, Mahapatra 3-0-20-0, Raul 10-0-62-1.
Orissa:
B B C C Mahapatra lbw Akhil 50
S S Das retd. 82
R R Parida c Arun Kumar b Raghu 53
S Raul c Somasunder b Joshi 5
P Mallick b Raghu 12
M Behera not out 33
P Jayachandra not out 35
Extras: (lb 3, nb 2, w 10) 15
Total: (for 4 wkts in 45.2 overs) 285
Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-180, 3-210, 4-211
Bowling: Ganesh 7.2-0-63-0, Aiyappa 6-0-55-0, Akhil 7-0-43-1, Joshi 10-0-52-1, Binny 3-0-17-0, Raghu 10-0-35-2, Rowland 2-0-17-0.