Karnataka clinch Vijay Hazare title
: Karnataka rode on Mayank Agarwal’s magnificent knock and spinner K Gowtham’s three-wicket haul to defeat Saurashtra by 41 runs to win the 2018 Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Tuesday.
Agarwal, 27, has been in sensational form for Karnataka this season. The opener stepped up with the bat again as Karnataka won their third Vijay Hazare Trophy in five seasons.
Agarwal continued to pile on the runs while other Karnataka batsmen capitulated in the face of tidy bowling by Saurashtra on what appeared a good wicket.
He struck a 79-ball 90 (11x4, 3x6), but just when it appeared he would go on to pile on the runs, but he holed out to the deep, triggering a batting collapse that left Saurashtra needing 254 to win.
His sensational sequence in the tournament read 109, 84, 28, 102, 89, 140, 81 and 90.
Saurashtra skipper and India No 3, Cheteshwar Pujara began slowly and was eventually run out for 94 under pressure.
Chasing 254, Saurashtra got off to a poor start as they lost two wickets in the first three overs.
Fast-bowler Prasidh Krishna removed opener Samarth Vyas and then got the better of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who tried to defend a short delivery but played on to the stumps.
Batting at No 4, Pujara scored just seven off 34 balls before hitting his first boundary.
Pujara put on 62 runs with Avi Barot for the third wicket. Although the skipper picked up his scoring, he could not rotate the strike and Barot, anxious to up the scoring rate, holed out off Stuart Binny in the 18th over, reducing his team to 77/3.
It was the turn of Ravindra Jadeja --- he didn’t bowl due to a side strain --- to give Saurashtra the momentum they desperately needed, but he fell for 15 off 38 balls. Pujara and Jadeja were kept under check by Binny and spinners K Gowtham and Pavan Deshpande, managing only 24 off 60 balls for the fourth wicket.
Brief scores: Karnataka 253 in 45.5 overs (M Agarwal 90, K Makvana 4/32) bt Saurashtra 212 in 46.3 overs (C Pujara 94; K Gowtham 3/27) by 41 runs.