Karun hails opener Mayank’s ‘amazing’ run after triumph

NEW DELHI: Karun Nair said Mayank Agarwal’s consistent performance made the difference in Karnataka’s third Vijay Hazare Trophy win in five seasons. While other Karnataka batsmen found the going tough in the final at Ferozeshah Kotla, it was Agarwal’s 90 that guided Karnataka to a clinical win over Saurashtra.

“He (Agarwal) has been amazing,” Nair said. “But I would say it was a complete team effort. If you have to win a tournament, you need everyone to perform. Of course, Mayank did the bulk of the scoring but other guys like Pavan Deshpande, Samarth did exceptionally well too.

“I’m very satisfied with the team’s performance. We were really eager to win it. Throughout the season, we did really well. It’s just that we reached the important stages but couldn’t go the distance. But I know that we have the team to win all three formats every year.”

Asked what was going through his mind when Karnataka lost four quick wickets to collapse to 253, Nair said: “Any total in a final is defendable because there’s always pressure batting second. We were 20-30 runs short but still it (253) was a challenging total. We were confident of putting pressure on Saurashtra.”

So far, Agarwal has 2,141 runs across formats in the 2017-18 season and he’ll look to add on to that with the Deodar Trophy and the Irani Cup still to go. Asked what was the one thing that kept him going, Agarwal said: “It was just the belief factor. Also, the team management and selectors supported me. It felt good. It was all about being in the zone.”

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Sreenath Aravind (33) retired from first-class cricket, saying he felt the need to make way for youngsters. He made his debut in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal of the 2008-09 season at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and went on to play 56 first-class games. He played one T20 and took 1- 44 against South Africa.

Any total in a final is defendable because there’s always pressure batting second.

KARUN NAIR, K’taka captain