Karnataka 238 for five (Padikkal 86, Smaran 76, Sindhu 2-47) beat Haryana 237 for 9 (Ankit 48, Himanshu 44, Shetty 4-34, Shreyas 2-36, Prasidh 2-40) by 5 wickets
4-time champions Karnataka have been jolted early within the chase when their top-scorer of the competitors, the captain Mayank Agarawal, fell within the opening over. Anshul Kamboj bought a fullish ball to jag in and hit Agarawal on the knee-roll, the Hawk-Eye exhibiting it to clip the stumps. Padikkal, his opening accomplice since coming back from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, managed to journey the uneven bounce and gather a number of fours, whilst KV Aneesh struggled on the different finish. The No. 3 bat performed 14 straight dots earlier than heaving Sumit Kumar over deep midwicket for a meaty six to get going.
If Padikkal introduced Karnataka’s chase on monitor together with his 62-run partnership with Aneesh, he dashed Haryana’s hopes together with his alliance with Smaran. The pair took their time to settle, particularly when Haryana pressed their spinners, Amit and Sindhu, into service. They have been getting some balls to show, some jumped from the tough however Padikkal broke the impasse by stepping out to Sindhu and smoking him over long-on. He seemed untroubled for many of his keep till he performed a cross-batted heave, intending to complete the chase in a rush, and top-edged Sindhu to mid-off with Karnataka 44 away.
Smaran too scored an aesthetic fifty, hitting three fours and three sixes and fell on 76 off 94 with Karnataka 13 away.
Earlier within the day, Haryana have been inserted and bought a gentle begin via openers Arsh Ranga and Himanshu. Their partnership ought to have been nipped within the fifth over when Ranga edged Koushik behind, however Krishnan Shrijith failed to hold on. That didn’t value Karnataka as Shetty struck together with his second ball to have Ranga edge one to Padikkal at slip.
That was Karnataka’s solely success for a while as Himanshu and Amit scored fluently. They have been helped by some wayward bowling, too, with Prasidh bowling a number of wides down leg. Shrijith’s shoddy glovework additionally resulted in a number of byes. The second-wicket pair for Haryana was doing effectively to set a base. Which is when Agarawal introduced spin on to use the brakes.
Shreyas and left-arm spinner Hardik Raj examined each the sides of the batters, with the previous utilizing the googly to wonderful impact. After he denied Haryana’s captain, Ankit, a fifty, Himanshu had an ill-timed sprint down the floor in opposition to Raj and was stumped by Shrijith. These twin wickets gave Karnataka sufficient of a gap. Dinesh Bana, Rahul Tewatia and Sumit Kumar all bought begins however none lasted greater than 36 balls.
However that didn’t hassle Karnataka, who made common inroads to set off a collapse. One which was sufficient to propel Karnataka to their first Vijay Hazare Trophy closing since 2019-20 after three semi-finals and a quarter-final look within the final 4 editions. They may meet the winner of Vidarbha vs Maharashtra in Saturday’s closing.
