Karnataka defeats Saurashtra in the final and lifts the Vijay Hazare Trophy third in the history of the tournament. Mayank Agarwal’s staggering 723 runs in eight matches, won the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the third time.
The Karnataka cricket team beat Saurashtra by 41 runs Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. This was Karnataka’s third triumph in the Vijay Hazare – they had earlier won the coveted trophy in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Also read: Karun Nair Reveals The Lessons He Learned Last YearMayank, who has been going through a purple patch of his career, had a dream season with scores of 109, 84, 28, 102, 89, 140, 81 and 90 in the final against Saurashtra in Delhi on Tuesday. It was special innings from Mayak who smashed 90 in just 79 balls and helped Karnataka to reach 253 against Saurashtra in the title clash after losing captain Karun Nair and India star KL Rahul inside the first three overs.
Nair fell to Shaurya Sanandia for a four-ball duck while Rahul was run out without scoring. Agarwal then shared a 136-run partnership with Ravikumar Samarth (48) to steady Karnataka. Useful contributions lower down the order from Pavan Deshpande (49) and Shreyas Gopal (31) ensured Karnataka’s bowlers had enough to defend.
Karnataka lifts Vijaya Hazare Trophy For third time
Karnataka celebrate their third #VijayHazare Trophy win after beating Saurashtra in the 2017-18 #Final @paytm pic.twitter.com/8wwdOJAbJC
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 27, 2018
In reply, Prasidh Krishna took two wickets back-to-back to remove SB Vyas and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja inside three overs. Avi Barot and Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara then tried to steady the innings but the loss of regular wickets stopped them in between. When Ravindra Jadeja, their most experienced limited-overs cricketer, fell to Deshpande for 15, the chase started to become impossible since then.
Also read: Half-fit Ravindra Jadeja Is Good Enough For Domestic CricketSaurashtra also lost PN Mankad and AN Vasavada on two successive deliveries to the off-break of Krishnappa Gowtham. The required rate kept increasing steadily and at the end, it was too much for Pujara to chase down despite the fact that he played a solid knock. He finally fell for a 127-ball 94 in the 45th over.
Pujara’s low strike-rate can also be termed as one of the crucial reasons for Saurashtra’s loss as it kept building pressure on the batsman on the other hand. Moreover, it also ended any hope of a remarkable victory for Saurashtra.
Brief scores: Karnataka – 253 all-out in 45.5 overs (MA Agarwal: 90; PU Deshpande: 49; KR Makvana: 4/34) defeated Saurashtra – 212 all-out in 46.3 overs (CA Pujara: 90; K Gowtham 3/27; MP Krishna: 3/37)
