Resolute Karnataka reigns supreme
February 28, 2018
Karnataka got its act right when it mattered and stopped Saurashtra without ever being seriously threatened on way to claiming the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Tuesday.
Chasing Karnataka’s 253 on a placid Ferozeshah Kotla pitch, Saurashtra remained behind the asking rate, lost six wickets in the space of 58 runs and eventually folded at 212.
The 41-run victory earned Karnataka its first title of the season and third in the National limited-over championship. It also gave Karnataka a place in the three-team Deodhar Trophy to be played at Dharamshala early next month.
Saurashtra had reasons to be optimistic after restricting Karnataka but K. Prasidh’s twin-strike, followed by Cheteshwar Pujara’s inability to force the pace and Ravindra Jadeja’s struggle to get going firmly turned the tide in Karnataka’s favour.
Big tumble
Saurashtra tumbled from 77 for two to 135 for eight and virtually fell out of contention.
Though Pujara scored 94 (127b, 10×4, 1×6), for most part, his presence did not hurt Karnataka’s prospects. After the fall of the eighth wicket, Pujara changed gears to hit his last 32 runs off just 15 deliveries before being run out.
Before displaying this late urgency, Pujara stood firm amid the ruins to collect 62 runs off 112 balls.
His dismissal ended an entertaining 65-run stand, off just eight overs, for the ninth wicket with Kamlesh Makvana.
Earlier, Karnataka, despite Mayank Agarwal’s strokeful 90 (79b, 11×4, 3×6) and his third-wicket stand of 136 with R. Samarth (48, 65b, 1×4, 1×6), could only score 253 due to the undue haste of its batsmen.
Doing it again
The cheap dismissals of skipper Karun Nair and Rahul were pushed into the background once Agarwal and Samarth raised their second three-figure partnership in three outings at this venue.
The day also saw the late arrival of the South Africa-returned, jet-lagged duo of K.L. Rahul for Karnataka and Jaydev Unadkat for Saurashtra, though it did not help their teams’ cause.
Among the others, only Pavan Deshpande (49, 60b, 4×4, 1×66) and Shreyas Gopal (31, 28b, 6×4) made notable contributions as the Saurashtra bowlers kept getting wickets.
Though Karnataka lost its eight wickets for just 112, with off-spinner Makvana getting four for 34, it eventually did not hurt the side as most Saurashtra batsmen succumbed to the pressure of chasing a target in the final.
The scores:
Karnataka: Mayank Agarwal c Unadkat b Dharmendhrasinh Jadeja 90, Karun Nair b Sanandia 0, K.L. Rahul run out 0, R. Samarth b Mankad 48, Pavan Deshpande c & b Makvana 49, Stuart Binny c Barot b Mankad 5, Shreyas Gopal run out 31, K. Gowtham c Mankad b Makvana 9, S. Arvind lbw b Makvana 13, T. Pradeep (not out) 1, Prasidh Krishna b Makvana 0; Extras (lb-2, nb-5): 7, Total (in 45.5 overs): 253.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-5, 3-141, 4-147, 5-167, 6-208, 7-223, 8-244, 9-253.
Saurashtra bowling: Jaydev Unadkat 8-0-40-0, Shaurya Sanandia 7-1-29-1, Chirag Jani 6-0-38-0, Prerak Mankad 9-0-54-2, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 7-0-56-1, Kamlesh Makvana 8.5-1-34-4.
Saurashtra: Samarth Vyas c Rahul b Prasidh 10, Avi Barot c Shreyas b Binny 30, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja b Prasidh 1, Cheteshwar Pujara run out 94, Ravindra Jadeja c Samarth b Deshpande 15, Prerak Mankad c Samarth b Gowtham 0, Aarpith Vasavada c Karun b Gowtham 0, Chirag Jani run out 22, Jaydev Unadkat lbw b Gowtham 0, Kamlesh Makvana (not out) 20, Shaurya Sanandia b Prasidh 7; Extras (b-2, lb-4, w-7): 13; Total (in 46.3 overs): 212.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-15, 3-77, 4-101, 5-101, 6-101, 7-134, 8-135, 9-200.
Karnataka bowling: Prasidh Krishna 7.3-0-37-3, T. Pradeep 6-1-18-0, S. Arvind 7-0-42-0, Stuart Binny 7-1-37-1, K. Gowtham 10-3-27-3, Pavan Deshpande 3-0-13-1, Shreyas Gopal 6-0-32-0.
