Live Score
ICC Ranking
Cricket Teams
Cricket PlayersVijay Hazare: Padikkal, Nair lead Karnataka into fourth straight semis
Devdutt Padikkal continued his prolific run in the tournament, hitting a sparkling unbeaten 81 off 95 balls
Kolkata: Defending champions Karnataka reached their fourth successive Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals with a commanding 54-run victory over Mumbai via the VJD method for rain affected games in Bengaluru on Monday. In the other quarter-final in Bengaluru, Saurashtra pipped Uttar Pradesh by 17 runs, also by the rain rule.
Devdutt Padikkal continued his prolific run, hitting a sparkling unbeaten 81 off 95 balls. Together with Karun Nair (74*, 80 balls), Padikkal ensured Karnataka were cruising at 187/1 in 33 overs while chasing a modest 255 when rain stopped play.
The VJD par score at that stage was 132, and with Karnataka 55 runs ahead they were declared winners. It clearly wasn’t Mumbai’s day as they had to do without pacer Tushar Deshpande, out due to personal reasons. More misfortune followed when Sarfaraz Khan was ruled out after he was struck on the finger during nets.
Mumbai managed only 254/8 after Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal opted to bowl at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1. In a largely one-man show, Shams Mulani struck an impressive 86 to hold the innings together after a top-order collapse saw Mumbai tottering at 60/4 in 17.2 overs. Mulani and skipper Siddhesh Lad (38 off 58 balls) added 76 runs for the sixth wicket to bring some stability to the innings. After Lad’s dismissal, Mulani held firm, scoring 86 from 91 balls with eight boundaries.
Mulani took 68 balls to reach his fifty, but stepped up in the death after getting support from Sairaj Patil (33* off 25 balls) as Mumbai smashed 59 runs in the last five overs.
Patil’s late assault gave the Mumbai bowlers something to defend. Mulani was trapped leg before by Abhilash Shetty in the final over, ending his determined knock. For Karnataka, Vidyadhar Patil returned 3/42, while Abhilash Shetty and Vidwath Kaverappa picked up two wickets each.
In reply, Agarwal and Padikkal began cautiously before Karnataka lost their skipper inside the Powerplay. Agarwal, Karnataka’s second-highest run-getter this season with two centuries and two fifties, edged Mohit Avasthi to slip for 12 off 24 balls.
Mumbai’s cause was further hurt by sloppy fielding, as the in-form Padikkal was given two reprieves. Avasthi induced a thick outside edge from Padikkal that flew to Angkrish Raghuvanshi at first slip, but he dropped it. Earlier, on 24, Onkar Tarmale spilled a straightforward chance running in from deep fine leg. Mumbai tried as many as seven bowlers, but apart from Avasthi’s early strike, none could make any impact.
Saurashtra ride Desai ton to edge UP
Harvik Desai led from the front with an unbeaten century to help Saurashtra go past Uttar Pradesh. Despite missing in-form wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who had linked up with the Indian team after an injury to Rishabh Pant, Uttar Pradesh did well to put up a challenging total of 310/8 batting first.
In reply, Saurashtra were 238/3 in 40.1 overs when rain stopped play, and they emerged winners after the V Jayadevan (VJD) method was applied.
Saurashtra needed 77 runs in the last 10 overs, a gettable proposition with their captain going strong. Desai was batting on exactly 100 off 116 balls when the match was halted, the skipper having figured in a vital second-wicket stand of 133 runs with Prerak Mankad (67 off 66 balls).
The other two quarter-finals will be played on Tuesday. Punjab play Madhya Pradesh and Delhi face Vidarbha.
Brief Scores
Mumbai 254/8 in 50 overs (Shams Mulani 86; Vidyadhar Patil 3/42, Vidwath Kaverappa 2/43, Abhilash Shetty 2/59) lost to Karnataka 187/1 in 33 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 81*, Karun Nair 74*) by 54 runs (VJD).
Uttar Pradesh 310/8 in 50 overs (Abhishek Goswami 88, Sameer Rizvi 88; Chetan Sakariya 3/54) lost to Saurashtra 238/3 in 40.1 overs (Harvik Desai 100*, Prerak Mankad 67, Chirag Jani 40*) by 17 runs (VJD).
