Mayank, Karun guide Karnataka to easy win in Vijay Hazare semifinal
Port Elizabeth from March 9-13.
The third and fourth Tests will be held in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungisani Ngidi, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.
Mayank Agarwal made a decent Maharashtra attack look pedestrian as he powered Karnataka into the final with a comfortable nine-wicket victory in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here on Saturday.
Maharashtra’s batting collapsed on a day when it mattered most. On a good batting track, Maharashtra managed a paltry 160 in 44.3 overs.
The target was never going to be a big ask for a quality batting line-up as openers Agarwal (81 off 86 balls) and skipper Karun Nair (70 off 90 balls) made merry with no pressure of scoreboard, achieving the target in only 30.3 overs.
In sublime form throughout the season, the cover drives and on drives flowed off Agarwal’s bat as he has now become the highest ever run-scorer in a single edition of the national one-day championship with 633 runs. Saturday’s knock had eight boundaries and a six.
Anupam Sanklecha, Pradeep Dadhe and Shrikant Mundhe didn’t have the pace to bother the two openers and repeated half volleys only made it easy.
While Agarwal was off the blocks faster, Karun started matching him stroke for stroke once spinners were introduced into the attack.
Karun lofted off-spinner Prashant Kore for a boundary and then swept him for a boundary in the 17th over. Agarwal completed his half century and 600 runs in the tournament with another cover drive off left-arm seamer Divyang Himganekar.
Andhra will face Saurashtra in the second semi-final on Sunday.
NEWDELHI:
Brief Scores: Maharashtra 160 in 44.3 overs (Shrikant Mundhe 50, Krishnappa Gowtham 3/26). Karnataka 164/1 in 30.3 overs (Mayank Agarwal 81, Karun Nair 70 n.o). Karnataka won by nine wickets.