Jammu and Kashmir extended their dream run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to the quarter-finals as they knocked Kerala out of the tournament with a seven-wicket win on Saturday. The in-form Auqib Nabi led the show with his career best score of 4/39, helping J&K beat Kerala for a paltry 174 in 47.4 overs after opting to take part in their first ever Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout match. In reply J&K galloped home in 37.5 overs with Shubham Khajuria (76) and Qamran Iqbal (51) taking the win with their opening stand of 113 runs in 21.4 overs.
In the form of his life, Khajuria hit six sixes and five fours in his 61-ball knock, which was his fourth half century on the trot this season.
However, he was run out for a second consecutive time as J&K lost three wickets for the addition of just 32 runs. But there was no pressure on the scoreboard and Henan Nazir and Fazil Rashid sealed their sixth win from seven games this season.
J&K will meet Assam here on Monday in their quarterfinal group B-toppers.
The J&K pace trio of Nabi, Yudhvir Singh (2/16) and left arm pacemaker Mujtaba Yousuf (1/37) accounted for seven batters as Kerala struggled to get going.
Opener Vinoop Maoharan top-scored for Kerala with an 81-ball 62, but Yudhvir dismissed him to cause the collapse in the 32nd over, before Nabi wreaked havoc with a dream spell.
With 12 wickets each from seven matches, Nabi and Yudhvir have done exceptionally well for J&K this season.
The side coached by Ajay Sharma had upset reigning Ranji champions Madhya Pradesh by chasing a huge 343 with two wickets in hand.
They also defeated Baroda, Odisha and Nagaland with little fuss.
Their only defeat came against Group D top teams Punjab as they finished second in the league stage.
Short Scores Kerala: 174 all out in 47.4 overs (Vinoop Manoharan 62, Sijomon Joseph 32; Auqib Nabi 4/39, Yudhvir Singh 2/16) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 175/3 in 37.5 overs (Shubham Khajuria 76, Qamran Iqbal 51; Sijomon Joseph 2/19) with seven wickets.
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