Bengaluru: Vinshu Vinod's fighting hundred went in vain as Kerala lost to Karnataka by 60 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day championship here on Saturday. Chasing a stiff target of 295, Kerala were bowled out for 234 despite a fine 104 by opener Vishnu and a sparkling 67 by Sanju Samson.
Sanju and Vishnu put on 107 for the second wicket after the early run out of opener Vinoop Manoharan (0).
Kerala suffered a big setback when Sanju's enterprising knock was cut short by another run out. The right-hander's 66-ball knock was studded with six fours and three sixes.
Captain Robin Uthappa failed for the second successive game as he fell to leggie Shreyas Gopal for 13.
Vishnu and Sachin Baby revived Kerala's hopes with a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket.
But once medium-pacer Ronit More removed Sachin, Kerala lost their way and folded up for 234 in the 47th over.
Vishnu's long vigil came to an end as he was caught by K L Rahul off More. His 123-ball knock contained 10 fours and three sixes.
This was Kerala's second successive loss in the tournament.
Kerala's opening game against Chhattisgarh, which was abandoned due to rain, will now be played on October 8.
Kerala next meet Hyderabad on Sunday.
Earlier, a superb hundred by Rahul helped Karnataka score 294.
The out of favour Indian Test opener smashed 131 off 123 balls as the hosts ended up with a respectable total. His knock contained 10 fours and four sixes.
Sandeep Warrier struck twice early as Kerala opted to bowl. Opener Devdutt Padikkal (2) was caught behind while Siddharth K V (7) was cleaned up by the right-arm pacer as Karnataka slumped to 30/2 in nine overs.
Rahul and Manish Pandey (50) put on 84 for the third wicket. Pandey was caught by Sijomon Joseph off Vinoop's bowling. The off-spinner struck another blow as he accounted for Pawan Deshpande (17).
Rahul was involved in a 98-run stand for the fifth wicket in the company of Gopal.
Pacer K M Asif provided a big breakthrough for Kerala by removing Rahul with the total on 248.
Asif was again in the thick of things as he castled K Gowtham for six and then sent back a well-set Gopal (31).
Karnataka lost their last six wickets for 48 and were bowled out in 49.5 overs.
Asif (3/59) and Basil Thampi (3/70) were the most succesful Kerala bowlers.
Brief scores: Karnataka 294 in 49.5 overs (K L Rahul 131, Manish Pandey 50; K M Asif 3/59, Basil Thampi 3/70) bt Kerala 234 in 46.4 overs (Vishnu Vinod 104, Sanju Samson 67; Ronit More 3/42).
Points: Karnataka 4; Kerala 0.
