Karnataka lose opener

Bangalore: Karnataka's below par performance in the ongoing domestic season continued on Thursday as the defending champions suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Railways in their opening match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Karnataka, who failed to make the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals as defending champions, got another rude shock when Railways hit the winning runs of the last ball of the match to chase down the 229-run target with a wicket to spare.

Brief scores: Karnataka 228 for 9 (Vinay Kumar 50 no; Akshat Pandey 3/45, Ashish Yadav 3/25). Railways 232 for 9 (Karn Sharma 51, Mahesh Rawat 50, Asad Pathan 50; Vinay Kumar 4/45).