Karnataka survived a strong fightback by minnows Goa to edge them out by a narrow margin of five runs and increase their points tally to 13 from three wins after the third round of the Rajni trophy ODI matches for K S Subbiah Pillai trophy here on Friday.

Goa chasing a stiff target of 313, were all out fo 307 with just a ball to spare in a nail biting contest at the ICL Gurunanak Ground, riding on two brilliant tons by J Arunkumar (108 off 102 balls, 13 fours, two sixes) and Ajay Ratra’s 103 (105 balls, ten fours). The duo realised 141 runs for the fourth wicket off just 134 balls.

Earlier, batting first Karnataka scored 312  for nine wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.

M Gautham (40), paceman R Vinay Kumar (82), C Raghu (70) and Devraj Patil (52) were the chief contributors.

Vinay and Raghu added 128 runs for the fourth wicket off 134 balls while Raghu and Patil put on 74 for the fifth. However, host Tamil Nadu, runner-up last year, nosed ahead to lead the points table with 14 from three matches.  They defeated Hyderabad by two wickets on the day.