Ravichandran Smaran celebrating his century [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/x]
Karnataka lifted its fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy, and its first since October 2019, by defeating Vidarbha in a one-sided final at the Kotambi Stadium on January 18. Ravichandran Smaran hogged the limelight on the big day by scoring a superlative century against Karun Nair’s team.
Here’s the timeline of how Karnataka vs Vidarbha panned out in Vadodara:
Karnataka vs Vidarbha Highlights: Nachiket Bhute Strikes Early For Vidarbha
Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal started off fluently with 32 runs from 38 balls despite losing opening partner Devdutt Padikkal early in the innings to Yash Thakur. After Karnataka raced to 64 at a good clip, Nachiket Bhute tilted the momentum back in Vidarbha’s favor with two quick wickets, that of both well-set batters Agarwal and number three KV Aneesh (21 off 27).
Karnataka vs Vidarbha Highlights: Ravi Smaran And Manohar Lift Karnataka To 348
Ravichandran Smaran at number four crafted 101 runs off 92 balls with seven boundaries and three sixes to set up a huge total for Karnataka. The 21-year-old shared 160 runs with Krishnan Shrijith (78 off 74), and another 106 runs with Abhinav Manohar (79 off 42) before falling to Darshan Nalkande.
Nalkande also halted Manohar’s 42-ball rampage later in the same over before Karnataka surged to 348-6 from 50 overs.
Karnataka vs Vidarbha Highlights: Shorey Holds Vidarbha Together With Fighting Ton
Chasing 349 for a win, Vidarbha lost opener Yash Rathod, run-machine and captain Karun Nair, and number four Yash Kadam all cheaply to Abhilash Shetty, Prasidh Krishna and Hardik Raj respectively to concede early advantage to Karnataka.
Amidst tumbling wickets, opening batter Dhruv Shorey held Vidarbha’s faltering response together with a fighting ton, scoring 110 runs at a near run-a-ball with eight boundaries and two sixes. Serial finisher Jitesh Sharma, however, failed to get going after reaching 34 as he was holed out by Prasidh Krishna off Vasuki Koushik in the 35th over of the run-chase.
Karnataka vs Vidarbha Highlights: Harsh Dubey Too Little, Too Late As Karnataka Lift Title
After Abhilash Shetty dismissed centurion Dhruv Shorey, Harsh Dubey at number eight cracked a 30-ball 63 to surge a late spark to Vidarbha’s run-chase.
However, three-wicket hauls from Shetty (3-58), Prasidh Krishna (3-84) and Vasuki Koushik (3-47) restricted Vidarbha to just 312 as Karnataka clinched the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy title by 36 runs.