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Karnataka win 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy by 60 runs (VJD method). The match has been called off due to rain and Karnataka was way ahead by the VKD method.
It was never going to be very tough chase and the way KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal blazed away, Tamil Nadu was never in the game.
Riding on Mayank and Rahul fifties Karnataka is in the driver's seat. If there is no further play, the home side is well ahead according to the VJD method. Rohan Gavaskar on air says, the par score after 23 overs is 86/1.
It has started raining and the light has deteriorated. The players are off and the covers are firmly in place. The Karnataka dressing room although, looks very relaxed.
Fifty for Rahul - KL Rahul brings up his half-century with a beautiful straight drive and with that the 100-run partnership between him and Mayank Agarwal is up.
Fifty for Mayank Agarwal - Excellent batting from Mayank and he continues his fine form with an unbeaten fifty. Started cautiously but soon gathered momentum and played the role of the aggressor. The partnership between him and Rahul has crossed 80 and slowly the game is slipping away from Tamil Nadu.
Dinesh Karthik employing spinners in tandem makes one think whether that is the wisest thing to do, as of now.
With the Chinnaswamy pitch and the ball getting older, the deliveries should gradually start coming nicely on to the bat, and render the pacers harmless over time. Out of the 15 overs bowled, 10 were those of spinners.
Washington Sundar, meanwhile, continues to be the most expensive bowler, conceding nine runs from the last one. His economy has shot up to 8.5 now.
Mayank Agarwal is oozing class and making the run chase look easy. He first lofted Vijay Shankar over extra cover for a gorgeous six and then smoked T Natarajan for three boundaries in an over, with an exquisite cover drive being the stand out shot. Karnataka on cruise mode.
WICKET - Washington Sundar strikes and he castles Devdutt Padikkal. Arm ball, just straightened up, Padikkal tried to push it but the ball sneaked between the bat and pad to disturb the stumps.
Karnataka is off to a flying start with KL Rahul smoking Washington Sundar for 15 runs in the first over. The second over from R Ashwin yielded 8 runs.
KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal are at the crease and it will be Washington Sundar to start the proceedings.
In this entire season, Karnataka has never lost at the M. Chinnaswamy and has chased down every target in the group stage. Except for the loss against Hyderabad, it has won every game and the batting has been soild. A chase of 253 should be easy, but Karnataka has to guard against complacency. Shall be back shortly.
What a fightback from Karnataka. Tamil Nadu was cruising at one stage with Abhimanyu Mithun and Baba Aparajith steering the ship with excellent half-centuries. However, the fall of Mukund saw Tamil Nadu slip as Aparajith departed soon.
Vijay Shankar looked rusty and a tentative Dinesh Karthik was never at ease. Manish Pandey lifted his side with some terrific fielding and the bowlers with a tight line dried up the boundaries. It was then Mithun who came up with an inspired spell to take a hat-trick.
Abhimanyu Mithun picks up a hat-trick, a five-for and becomes the first Karnataka bowler to pick a hat-trick. Tamil Nadu bowled out for 252.
Mithun on Hat-trick - Abhimanyu Mithun has his fourth as he removes M Mohammed.
WICKET - Shahrukh Khan's little cameo comes to an end as birthday boy Abhimanyu Mithun picks his third wicket. Low full toss and Shahrukh ends up hitting straight into the hands of Manish Pandey at long-off.
A boundary after 27 deliveries and the 250 is up for Tamil Nadu. They need more in the final over.
Karnataka has got their best fielders - Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal patrolling the boundary and Tamil Nadu is finding hard to get the ball over the ropes. It's been a fantastic comeback from the home side as the visitor was cruising at one stage and a score in excess of 300 seemed possible. But now 250 seems tough.
WICKET - Abhimanyu Mithun strikes and he removes Vijay Shankar. Full too, Shankar swings hard, gets the elevation but Karun Nair positions himself just inches ahead of the ropes and calmly takes a brilliant catch.
The 200 is up for Tamil Nadu but Karnataka will be happy with the way they have clawed back in the game. First they removed Abhinav Mukund, a miscommunication saw Baba Aparajith walk back and then they got the prized scalp of Dinesh Karthik. The onus lies on Vijay Shankar for a late surge.
WICKET - A tentative Dinesh Karthik falls as Krishnappa Gowtham gets the Tamil Nadu skipper. Karthik goes for the cut, but was undone by the bounce, gets an edge and KL Rahul pouches an excellent catch. Karnataka are making late inroads.
It's time for Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar to accelerate the innings as we enter the final 10 overs. Given the star studded Karnataka batting line-up, Tamil Nadu would ideally want to get somewhere close to 280.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik walks in to join hands with Vijay Shankar.
WICKET - Run-out! Just what Tamil Nadu didn't want at this moment. Set batsmen Baba Aparajith falls short of his crease and this was completely unnecessary. Vijay Shankar takes a single, then sees the fielder charging from mid-wicket, denies the second but even a dive couldn't save Baba. The bat bounced after crossing the crease and the third umpire presses the red button. Aparajith walks off for a well-made 66.
Interesting passage of play as although Tamil Nadu has wickets in hand, Karnataka has dried up the boundaries and most importantly have got the prized scalp of Abhinav Mukund. Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar have a job in their hands.
WICKET - Against the run of play and Abhinav Mukund has to depart. Prateek Jain breaks the stand as Mukund perishes while trying to up the ante. Short of length, Mukund tries to clear the infield but Mayank Agarwal takes a fine catch at cover. Karnataka are ecstatic. Vijay Shankar is the new man in.
Abhinav Mukund survives a scare! A flighted delivery from Karun Nair turns away from the southpaw and he was so close to edging it to the 'keeper. Sighs all around.
With an Aparajith boundary coming off the fifth ball of the 27th over, the 100-run partnership has come up for the Aparajith-Mukund duo. Praveen Dubey's proves to be the most expensive over, thus far, with 15 runs coming from it.
Baba Aparajith reaches his fifty now, off 57 balls. Prithvi Shaw, who is present in the stands, applauds the efforts of the experienced TN campaigner.
Karnataka still fumbling a bit, if fielding is to be considered.
The batsmen might not have gone all guns blazing as of now, but these errors might come back to bite Karnataka later, during the course of the day.
The sun is out and that might be some good news for the Tamil Nadu batsmen. Meanwhile, Abhinav Mukund has reached his half-century, this being his 16th Vijay Hazare and 24th List A fifty.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Aparajith has started to break free as well, utilising the pace of the bowler to nudge one to the boundary ropes, while all KL Rahul could do was watch it race to the fence.
And as expected, both the batsmen are treading the more cautious path right now, going for the singles. Mukund, however, is trying to break free, only occasionally.
Another boundary comes off Mukund's willow, this time an inside edge which Rahul couldn't get to.
First boundary for Aparajith in the 14th over; width being on offer, the right-hander resorts to the back foot and cuts through the point region. This is also the over where Pandey introduces spin. Krishnappa Gowtham gives away five runs in that over.
3,000 runs for Mukund comes up in Vijay Hazare! And what a way to bring it up: a boundary; another glorious cut beating the fielder in the deep.
A change in the field in the seventh over. Two slips for the right-hander in place, with Mithun bowling over the wicket and looking to angle the ball away from Ashwin. He is bowling around the wicket to Mukund, the switch being suggested by skipper Manish Pandey.
And R Ashwin has been dismissed! A similar sight and Ashwin was in two minds about it: go for the shot or let it go. A slight drift on the ball sees it shift a bit on the channel outside off and Ashwin has nicked it to Rahul. The No. 3 experiment has failed miserably!
New man in Baba Aparajith would have to take his time to settle down in the middle. TN cannot afford to lose anymore wickets here on. A good partnership is what the side would want now.
Well, well, well... What do we see here? Karthik has sent Ravi Ashwin at No. 3 to face the new ball. A defensive mindset? What is the skipper thinking?
V Koushik and Abhimanyu Mithun are meanwhile, looking to pitch it fuller to trouble the India international, who just joined the squad after the South Africa series. Interestingly, the spinner finished as the highest wicket-taker (15) in the Test series.
The first boundary has come off the fifth over now. A beautiful shot that, from Mukund: good footwork followed by an elegant nudge past mid-off.
Abhimanyu Mithun starts things off with the new ball and in the very first delivery we see the late movement Badani was talking about, ahead of the match. Abhinav Mukund has to be very cautious as the ball continues to swing towards the outside of off stump.
And there's the first wicket of the match already! Murali Vijay departs for a duck as Mithun finally finds the edge he was looking for. Credits to KL Rahul for pulling off a blinder behind the stumps, as well. This was coming, one would say...
Hemang Badani with the pitch report: "The pitch is similar to what it has been like at the Chinnaswamy over the course of the tournament. There will be some moisture, some dew and thus some assistance to the seamers. For the side batting first, it will be a bit difficult in the first 15 overs."
Let's have the match preview from our correspondent Ashwin Achal :
An exciting fare is on the cards as traditional rivals Karnataka and Tamil Nadu face each other in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
That the two form sides are packed with quality players only adds to the buzz surrounding this marquee clash. Tamil Nadu, the sole unbeaten side in this tournament, boasts of stars like R. Ashwin, skipper Dinesh Karthik, Abhinav Mukund, M. Vijay and Vijay Shankar.
Karnataka is not short on big names either, with K. L. Rahul, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair on the roster.
A run-fest on the cards
With both units possessing strong batting line-ups, the summit clash may well turn out to be high-scoring. A look at the numbers suggests that the host holds a slight edge in this department.
Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal (598 runs) is the highest run-scorer of the tournament, and his team-mates Rahul and Manish figure in the top-five of the same list. Mayank made his return to Karnataka colours from India duty for the semifinal fixture against Chhattisgarh, and showed his class with an electric unbeaten 33-ball 47.
Tamil Nadu has banked on the solid middle-order presence of B. Aparajith (532 runs), who is fourth on the list of highest run-scorers. Experienced southpaw opener Abhinav Mukund is not too far behind with 515 runs.
Valuable Ashwin
While Karnataka is boosted by the arrival of Mayank, the visitor is thrilled to have Ashwin back. The spinner’s tight eight overs helped his side keep Gujarat down to a manageable score in the semifinal .
Tamil Nadu coach Diwakar Vasu stated that Ashwin brings a lot to the table. “Ashwin adds a lot to the team. His inputs — along with Vijay, Mukund and other seniors — contribute a lot to the juniors. That’s very heartening. The seniors are helping the juniors both on and off the field, which is very important,” Vasu, who represented Tamil Nadu with distinction as an all-rounder, said.
Vasu added that Tamil Nadu has “turned over a new leaf,” referring to the side’s failure to make the knockout rounds in the previous two editions.
‘Fun and hard cricket’
On the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka rivalry, Vasu, himself a veteran of many a battle between the two teams, said, “We’ve always enjoyed our rivalry with Karnataka. It’s always been fun, and hard cricket. Neither team will ever give up on winning the game. I think it’s going to be the same. We have two very good teams playing each other, with many superb cricketers in the mix. It should be a good final.”
The inclement rains which have hit the city in recent weeks could pose a threat to the action. The top-class drainage system at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, however, could save the day. Entry is free.
Former India cricketer Gundappa Viswanath, on behalf of the BCCI, will felicitate six retired umpires before the start of the match. The umpires are Sanjay Hazare, Sudhir Asrani, Kusha Prakash, Milind Pathak, Seetharama Prabhu and Bhanu Prakash.
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