Vijay Hazare Trophy: Saurashtra thumps Karnataka, clinches title

New Delhi: Take a bow, Mayank Agarwal, Yet again, riding on his audacious 90-run knock and lethal bowling display, Karnataka, for the third time, lifted the Vijay Hazare Trophy, thumping Saurashtra by 41 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium here on Tuesday.

Mayank Agarwal was given Man of the Match for his splendid 79-ball 90- run inning on a track which was never batting friendly.

After inviting Karnataka to bat, Saurashtra got rid off captain Karun Nair (0) and Lokesh Rahul (0) in the very start of the game. Both departed for a duck.

Mayank Agarwal, at the other end, continued to play his brand of Cricket. He got assistance from Ravikumar Samarth (48) and Pavan Deshpande (49) who missed their half-centuries by one and two runs respectively.

But just when things seemed good in the middle, Agarwal was dismissed in the 25th over by Dharmendrasinh Jadeja Mayank's fancy 90-run knock was laced with 11 boundaries and three sixes. Mayank, however, missed his ton by just 10 runs.

Saurashtra bowled out for 253 before Shreyas Gopal's handy 28-ball 31-run knock with six boundaries. Apart from him, other batsmen Stuart Binny (5), Shreyas Gopal (31), Krishnappa Gowtham (9) could not add much to the score.

For Saurashtra, Kamlesh Makvana chipped in four wickets while Prerak Mankad took two wickets.

Chasing the target of 254, Saurashtra was given some early blows in the form of Samarth Vyas (10) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (1).

Then, captain Cheteshwar Pujara and Barot steered the ship before latter threw his wicket away to Binny.

It was an uncharacteristic inning from Saurashtra skipper. When team was on the verge of loss, he stepped up and counter-atttacked but the ever-mounting run rate ended things for Saurashtra.

Chirag Jani and Kamlesh Makvana's cameos did not turn fruitful for their side as it was bundled out for 212.

Prasidh Krishna and Krishnappa Gowtham took three wickets each for Karnataka. Karnataka skipper Karun Nair collected the trophy amid wild celebrations of team-mates.

Brief scores: Karnataka 253/10 (Mayank Agarwal 90, Pavan Deshpande 49; Kamlesh Makvana 4/32) against Saurashtra 212/10 (Cheteshwar Pujara 94; Krishnappa Gowtham 3/27).