AHMEDABAD: Pacer Siddharth Kaul‘s took 3 for 15 before Prabhsimran Singh’s hit an unbeaten 49 as Punjab beat defending champions Karnataka by nine wickets in the first quarter-final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Tuesday here at the Motera Stadium.
Chasing a below par 88, Punjab lost Abhishek Sharma (4) in the very first over but then Mandeep Singh (35*) joined Prabhsimran Singh ensuring the team got across the finish line without any further hiccups. Both batsmen mixed caution with aggression and in the end, they took the side to victory with 44 balls to spare.

Mandeep and Simran partnership stood unbeaten at 85.
Earlier, Siddharth’s show with the ball helped Punjab bundle out Karnataka for 87.
Put in to bat first, Karnataka got off to a bad start as the side lost its first four wickets inside the powerplay overs.
Devdutt Padikkal (11), Karun Nair (12), Sharath BR (2), and Pavan Deshpande (0) all failed to leave a mark and Karanataka found the score reading 37/4 after the first six overs.
Shreyas Gopal and Aniruddha Joshi put together a brief stand of 25 runs, but as soon as the duo started looking comfortable at the crease, Punjab struck back as Ramandeep Singh dismissed Gopal (13), reducing Karantaka to 51/5 in the eighth over.
Aniruddha went on to play a knock of 27 runs from 33 balls, but his vigil also came to an end in the 15th over as he was cleaned up by Mayank Markande.
The lower-order was also not able to contribute much, resulting in Karnataka bundling out for 87.
Punjab will now face the winner of the Baroda-Haryana match in the second semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Friday.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 87 (Aniruddha Joshi 27, Shreyas Gopal 13; Siddharth Kaul 3-15); Punjab 89/1 (Prabhsimran Singh 49*, Mandeep Singh 35*; Abhimanyu Mithun 1-11).