India's forgotten opener Karun Nair scored a century, while leggie Pravin Dubey claimed a four-wicket haul as Karnataka ended Tamil Nadu's winning streak with a 78-run win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 tournament at Viziangaram on Friday.
Nair's knock of 111 was instrumental in Karnataka posting 179 for 9 in 20 overs after being sent in to bat by Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar. Tamil Nadu was bowled out for 101 in 16.3 overs.
No other Karnataka batsman crossed 20 even as Nair, who opened the innings, smashed eight fours and eight sixes in his 52-ball effort.
The only significant partnership was the one between Nair and R Samarth for the third wicket, which yield 83 runs.
The centurion kept going despite the team losing wickets at regular intervals.
Rookie slinger Athisayaraj Davidson with a five-wicket haul played a huge role in restricting Karnataka to 179 after they looked set for a big score at one stage.
Nair was among his victims as he ran through the lower order to finish with 5 for 30.
Tamil Nadu was in early trouble during the chase, losing opener Abhinav Mukund (1) and the prolific Dinesh Karthik (0), who had scored three successive fifties, to a run-out in the first two overs.
Despite a 48-run partnership between M S Washington Sundar (34) and Shankar (20), things went downhill for Tamil Nadu after they were separated.
Dubey, who ended Sundar's stay, took three other wickets including that of the aggressive N Jagadeesan (16) to send Tamil Nadu hurtling to defeat.
Meanwhile in matches played at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh beat Hyderabad by six wickets riding on Ricky Bhui's 73, while Kerala outplayed Goa by nine wickets.
Three teams - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra - have 12 points after four games while Hyderabad has 8 and Kerala (4).
Goa has lost all its matches.
In Delhi, Rishabh Pant made short work of a below-par Jammu and Kashmir with a 33-ball-51 as Delhi won their match of the T20 tournament by eight wickets.
Delhi outclassed the wooden spooners of North Zone in all departments, never taking their foot off the pedal while chasing a paltry target of 101 in 11.3 overs.
Among the Delhi bowlers, left-arm spinner Pawan Negi (3/27 in 4 overs) was the most successful.
Rishabh hit a couple of straight sixes, including one off opposite number Parveez Rasool, which landed on the top-most tier of the Feroz Shah Kotla stand.
He also pulled the medium pacers with disdain, hitting seven boundaries while adding 84 in nine overs with the controversial Sarthak Ranjan, who got a reprieve before making 31 off 20 balls.
Interestingly, Ranjan was sent to open against the weakest team in the zonal leg, replacing last match's half centurion Dhruv Shorey, who reportedly had an ankle injury.
Senior opener Gautam Gambhir, for only the sixth time in his 276-match T20 career, did not come to open the innings as Ranjan was given that opportunity.
He did hit three boundaries apart from two sixes.
The first of the two sixes was a catch that was taken by the fielder at long-on, but he crossed the boundary ropes after losing his balance.
Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Haryana notched up their first win, beating Punjab by five wickets.
Batting first, Punjab scored 134/9 in 20 overs with Mandeep Singh contributing 30 off 18 balls, while Yuvraj Singh was dismissed by India discard Jayant Yadav.
In reply, Haryana reached the target in 17.5 overs despite a tight spell by skipper Harbhajan Singh (2/16 in 4 overs).
(With PTI inputs)
