Devdutt Padikkal and Ravichandran Smaran produced a masterclass in tackling spinners on a tricky pitch as their fifties facilitated Karnataka’s entry into the Vijay Hazare Trophy last with a six-wicket over Haryana right here on Wednesday. Karnataka’s chase of a manageable 238 started on a shaky notice, shedding skipper and prime run-getter Mayank Agarwal within the first over itself, as pacer Anshul Kamboj’s low-slung supply trapped him in entrance of the wicket.
However Devdutt (86, 113b, 8×4, 1×6) and Smaran (76, 94b, 3×4, 3×6) milked 128 runs for the third wicket as Karnataka overhauled the goal in 47.2 overs, making 238 for 5.
However a victory with practically three overs to spare at instances can provide the image of a canter, however the four-time champions’ march to the title conflict with both Vidarbha or Maharastra was something however that.
After Agarwal’s dismissal, KV Aneesh (22, 47b) took 14 balls to get off the mark and by no means actually got here to phrases with the deck’s sluggish nature and variable bounce.
Nonetheless, Devdutt and 21-year-old Smaran confirmed how to try this. Devdutt, recent from his 102 in opposition to Baroda within the quarterfinals, paced his innings fairly fantastically, taking the chance components out of his sport.
Most of his boundaries got here by way of level or superb leg area as he performed the ball late to counter spin.
However when the chance offered itself, the left-hander was completely happy to come back down the observe and thwack spinner Nishant Sindhu for a most over mid-wicket.
It was Devdutt’s seventh hundred within the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
On the different finish, Smaran too began cautiously however opened up as soon as his fifty was reached.
He hammered spinners Sindhu and Amit Rana for a six every to underline his rising consolation ranges.
Devdutt fell to Sindhu in his effort to shut out the chase whereas Smaran was castled by the off-spinner.
However by then Karnataka had reached simply 13 runs away from victory.
Earlier, Karnataka bowlers led by left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty (4/34) stored Haryana on the again foot within the firm of leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (2/36) and pacer Prasidh Krishna (2/40).
Himanshu Rana (44) and skipper Ankit Kumar (48) added 70 runs for the second wicket however nobody actually constructed on the platform.
It required a 39-run alliance from tenth wicket pair – Anuj Thakral and Amit Rana – for Haryana to succeed in a good 237 for 9.
Matters talked about on this article
