Santosh Kumar's six wicket haul on the final day propelled the Karnataka Under-19 team to enter the knock out stage of the Cooch Behar Trophy with a 173-run victory on the third and final day over Kerala in the South Zone league match at the KRL Ground in Ambalamugal on Monday. The other team to enter the knock out stage from the zone is Andhra who scored an innings and 67 run win over Goa on Sunday.

Resuming their second innings at 217 for 8, Karnataka were all out for 246, leaving Kerala a stiff victory target of 300.

Kerala folded up for 126 off 35.3 overs. The openers R Kapil (9) and MM Nathani (18) made a sedate start adding 24 runs in 9.4 overs. Off spinner Santosh Kumar who was introduced early into the attack then bowled Kapil. Rejas joined Nathani and the two took the score to 38 when Rejas was bowled by Santosh Kumar. The last ball of Santosh's next over saw the exit of Nathani in similar fashion. Skipper Vipin Lal (19) and RP Sujith (39) took the score to 58. But at this juncture Vipin was caught by Krishna off Kumar. Three balls later NJ John (0) returned to the pavilion after being bowled by Kumar.

In the next over Dharmichand had AC Antony caught by KV Bhatt before the batsman had opened his account. At 59 for 6 in the 21st over, Kerala were staring at certain defeat. But Sujith found some good company in the later order batsmen to take Kerala past the 100 run mark. Sujith after a 46-run seventh wicket stand with Aneesh (10) in 7.5 overs, was caught by HTS Rao off Dharmichand. For his bright knock, Sujith faced 23 balls while hitting 6 boundaries and 2 sixes. Kumar now came back to claim the wicket of Aneesh by shattering his defences. Dharmichand then dismissed S Santh (12) and S Sooraj (7) off successive deliveries. Santosh Kumar finished with six for 35 while Dharmichand had four for 64.

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