Karnataka has won the Vijay Hazare Trophy title for the fifth time. The team defeated Vidarbha, who were playing the final for the first time, by 36 runs on Sunday. Batting first in Vadodara, Karnataka scored 348 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. In reply, Vidarbha could score only 312 runs.
Vidarbha captain Karun Nair, who scored 5 centuries in the season, could score only 27 runs. Opener Dhruv Shourey scored a century, but could not lead his team to victory. Middle order batsman Ravichandran Smaran played an innings of 101 runs for Karnataka. The famous Krishna, Vasuki Kaushik and Abhilash Shetty took 3 wickets each for the team.
Karnataka's 3 wickets fell early At the Kotambi Stadium, Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bowl. Karnataka had a poor start, losing 3 wickets for 67 runs. Captain Mayank Agarwal only 32 runs, Devdutt Padikal only 8 and K.V. Anish could score only 23 runs. Smaran then took charge of the innings with wicketkeeper Krishnan Sreejith. Both made the team's score cross 200.
Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal could score only 32 runs in the final.
A century to remember, Sreejith scored a fifty Sreejith was dismissed for 78, sharing a 160-run partnership with Smaran for the fourth wicket. Smaran scored a century to take the team's score past 300. He added 106 runs for the fifth wicket with Abhinav Manohar. Smaran scored 101 runs, while Manohar was dismissed with 79 runs.
In the end, Hardik Raj scored 12 runs and Shreyas Gopal scored 3 runs for Karnataka to take the score to 348 runs. Darshan Nalkande and Nachiket Bhute took 2 wickets each for Vidarbha. Yash Thakur and Yash Kadam got 1-1 success.
Ravichandran Smaran scored a century in the final for Karnataka. He also scored 76 in the semi-final.
Dhruva was not supported by anyone from Vidarbha Against a target of 349 runs, Vidarbha batted at a run rate of 6. Opener Dhruv Shourey stood at one end, but wickets kept falling in front of him. Yash Rathore 22, Karun Nair 27, Yash Kadam 15, wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma 34 and Shubham Dubey were out after scoring only 8 runs.
The famous Krishna bowled Vidarbha captain Karun Nair in the final.
Vidarbha's hopes ended with Dhruva's wicket falling Dhruv Shourey scored a century, he was dismissed for 110 and Vidarbha's hopes of winning the final were dashed. After that, Apoorva Wankhede scored 12 runs, Nachiket Bhute scored 5 runs and Darshan Nalkande scored 11 runs. Harsh Dubey scored a quick 63, but could not lead his team to victory. Vidarbha were all out for 312 runs. For Karnataka, Vasuki Kaushik, Prishan Krishna and Abhilash Shetty took 3 wickets each. Hardik Raj was a success.
Karnataka won the title for the fifth time Karnataka has won the Vijay Hazare Trophy title for the fifth time. The team was playing only their fifth final, having never lost a final. The team last won the title in 2019. On the other hand, Vidarbha made it to the finals for the first time, but the team finished as runners-up. Haryana won the title last season. Karnataka qualified for the final after defeating Haryana in the semi-final.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).