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In the league stage of Ranji Trophy 2025-26, an interesting match was played between Karnataka and Punjab at IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. This match was do or die for Karnataka, because only with a win they could reach the quarter-finals. Punjab won the toss and chose to bat first and scored 309 runs in the first innings. Karnataka took a slight lead by scoring 316 runs in reply. In the second innings, Punjab was all out for 256 runs, giving Karnataka a target of 250 runs to win.

Karnataka’s reply to Punjab’s strong start

In Punjab’s first innings, Abhijeet Garg scored 81, Emonjeet Singh Chahal scored 83 and captain Uday Saharan scored 44 runs. Karnataka bowler Vidyadhar Patil took 4 wickets and Shreyas Gopal took 3 wickets. In Karnataka’s first innings, KL Rahul scored 59, Mayank Agarwal scored 46 and Shreyas Gopal scored 77 runs.

Harpreet Brar of Punjab took 4 wickets. In the second innings, Uday Saharan played a brilliant inning of 93 runs, but Karnataka’s Shreyas Gopal and Prasidh Krishna stopped Punjab by taking 3-3 wickets.

Last day T20 style chase

Karnataka had to score 250 runs on the fourth day, which was quite challenging in the Test format. KL Rahul was out after scoring only 13 runs. But captain Devdutt Padikkal did wonders. He scored unbeaten 120 runs in just 85 balls, which included 6 fours and 5 sixes.

His stormy innings was like T20. Mayank Agarwal scored 53 runs and Shreyas Gopal added 33 runs in 22 balls. The team achieved the target of 5 wickets in 27.5 overs and won by 5 wickets.

Padikkal’s captaincy debut

This match was the captaincy debut of Devdutt Padikkal and he made it memorable. His aggressive batting brought the team out of trouble and secured a place in the quarter-finals, where it will now face Mumbai. This victory was one of the most sensational of the season for Karnataka. This innings of Padikkal not only won the match but also proved his form and leadership.