A superb 160 by opener Robin Uthappa and a four-wicket haul by C Rughur propelled Karnataka to a huge 113-run win against Kerala in the Ranji Trophy South Zone One-Day league match played at Arlem ground in Margao on Thursday.
Karnataka piled up an imposing 306 for nine in the allotted 50 overs before bowling out Kerala for 193 in 44.5 overs.
The win placed Karnataka second on the table with 14 points from four matches and pushed Kerala to the third spot.
Kerala, who suffered their first defeat, have 12 points from from four matches.
Tamil Nadu, who have won all their four matches, are leading with 19 points and have qualified for the final round to be played at Mumbai.
The other berth will be decided on January 15. A win for Karnataka against Goa will see them through as the second team from the zone.
Faced with a must-win situation, Karnataka elected to bat and got to a flying start with a 103-run partnership between openers Robin Uthappa and Rowland Barrington.
Robin (160, 1x6, 4x18) belted the hapless Kerala bowlers, sharing another fruitful 63-run partnership with Arun Kumar (32) for the third wicket to help his team pile up a huge total.
In reply, Kerala batsmen fell to the guile to C Raghu (4/33) and N C Aiyappa (3/39). Wickets kept falling at regular interval with only Sreeshanth (33) and Ajay Kudva (43) putting up a fight with a 57-run partnership for the fourth wicket.