Vidarbha went down fighting by 36 runs against Karnataka in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Vadodara on Saturday.
Chasing a daunting target of 349 under the lights was never going to be easy but Dhruv Shorey’s battling century kept Vidarbha in the game. However with the law of averages finally catching up with Karun Nair (27) and wickets falling regularly at the other end, Vidarbha lacked partnerships.
In the end, Shorey’s third century of the tournament — 110 off 111 balls — and a brilliant cameo by Harsh Dubey (63, 30 balls, 4x5, 6x5) was not enough and Vidarbha ended up short.
It was Vidarbha’s second loss in final of a major tournament in successive seasons. Last season Vidarbha had finished runners up to Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.
Earlier, Vidarbha pacers Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute did well to dismiss Karnataka's in-form duo of Mayank Agarwal (32) and Devdutt Padikkal (8) as well as Aneesh (23) inside 15 overs.
However a superb 160-run partnership for the fourth wicket in 134 balls between Ravichandran Smaran (101) and Krishnan Shrijith (78) changed the complexion of the game.
Abhinav Manohar added more spice by smacking 79 off only 42 deliveries, hitting 10 boundaries and four sixes. His association with Smaran yielded 106 runs as Vidarbha's bowling wilted under pressure.
FINAL
BRIEF SCORES
18/01/2025: Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara
Karnataka 348/6 in 50 overs (Mayank Agarwal 32, R Smaran 101, K Shrijith 78, Abhinav Manohar 79; Nachiket Bhute 2/68, Darshan Nalkande 2/67)
Vidarbha 312 all out in 48.2 overs (Dhruv Shorey 110, Yash Rathod 22, Karun Nair 27, Jitesh Sharma 34, Harsh Dubey 63; V Koushik 3/47, Prasidh Krishna 3/84, A Shetty 3/58)
Result: Karnataka won by 36 runs
Player of the Match: Ravichandran Smaran
Man of the Series