Ahmedabad: Jammu and Kashmir scored an emphatic seven-wicket win over Kerala to enter the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy national one-day championship here on Saturday.
Medium-pacer Auqib Nabi picked up 4/39 as Kerala were bowled out for 174 in 47.4 overs after being put in to bat.
Kerala were without the in-form opener Rohan Kunnummal who is with the India A squad for the Bangladesh tour. Vinoop Manoharan, who top-scored with 62, partnered P Rahul at the top of the order.
Nabi struck early by removing Rahul for eight. One-drop batter Vathsal Govind and captain Sachin Baby fell for three each.
Vinoop's 81-ball knock contained seven fours.
Sijomon Joseph (32) and Akhil Scaria (23) chipped in with cameos but it was not enough to take Kerala to even the 175-run mark.
J&K Openers Qamran Iqbal (51) and Shubham Khajuria (76) laid the foundation with a 113-run stand. Khajuria smashed five fours and sixes in his belligerent 61-ball knock.
Qamran was more watchful, hitting seven fours in his 96-ball stint.
J&K were home and dry with more than 12 overs to spare.
Left-arm spinner Sijomon returned excellent figures of 2/19 from his quota of 10 overs.
Brief scores: Kerala 174 in 47.4 overs (Vinoop Manoharan 62, Sijomon Joseph 32; Auqib Nabi 4/39, Yudvir Singh 2/16) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 175/3 in 37.5 overs (Shubham Khajuria 76, Qamran Iqbal 51; Sijomon Joseph 2/19).
