Rajkot: Mahipal Lomror's brilliant hundred and fine spells by medium-pacers Aniket Choudhary and Arafat Khan helped Rajasthan thrash Kerala by 200 runs to enter the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.
Kerala, who were without regular skipper Sanju Samson, never got going in their chase of 268. Openers Krishna Prasad and Rohan Kunnummal, who scored hundreds in the big win over Maharashtra in the pre-quarterfinals, fell for seven and eleven respectively. Mohammed Azharuddeen departed for three while Vishnu Vinod was forced to leave the crease after suffering an injury off the very first ball.
Kerala's hopes of making it to the semifinals of the premier domestic one-day competition for the first time since 2013 were as good as over when all-rounders Shreyas Gopal (0) and Abdul Bazith (1) perished to leave them tottering at 40/5 in the 14th over. Though senior player Sachin Baby tried hard, Kerala lost wickets at the other end.
The innings folded up for 67 in 21 overs as Vishnu did not come out to bat again. Sachin was the last man to be dimissed for 28.
Earlier, Lomror's unbeaten 122 and a quick-fire fifty by wicketkeeper-batter Kunal Singh Rathore lifted Rajasthan to 267/8.
Kerala had reduced Rajasthan to 108/4 in the 29th over after acting-captain Rohan Kunnummal opted to bowl. Rohan led the side in the absence of Sanju who has been picked in the Indian ODI team for the tour of South Africa. Left-handers Lomoror and Rathore added 116 for the fifth wicket to stage a spirited fightback.
Rathore smashed 66 off 52 balls, with the help of seven fours and two sixes. Lomror notched up his second hundred in List A cricket. He hit six fours and as many sixes in his 114-ball knock.
Once Rathore fell to pacer Akhin Sathar in the 45th over, Kerala picked up wickets to to slow down Rajasthan's progress. However, Lomoror took 18 off the final over bowled by Akhin to set a total which proved beyond Kerala's reach.
Akhin picked up 3/62, while Basil Thampi claimed 2/57.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 267/8 in 50 overs (Mahipal Lomror 122 not out, Kunal Singh Rathore 66; Akhin Sathar 3/62, Basil Thampi 2/57) bt Kerala 67/9 in 21 overs (Sachin Baby 28; Aniket Choudhary 4/26, Arafat Khan 3/20, Khaleel Ahmed 2/15).
