Karnataka won Vijay Hazare Trophy

Mayank Agarwal well earned confidence through his Test exploits did Karnataka a world of good as he smashed an unbeaten 55-ball 69, while KL Rahul too reached a half-century to put Karnataka on course to their fourth Vijay Hazare Trophy title win in the last seven seasons.

Tamil Nadu would've gone into the innings break knowing fully well that they finished about 15 runs short of a truly competitive total, and began their defence of 252 with spin from both ends. The bowling pair were all over the place in the first couple of overs, until Washington Sundar got one ball to utterly fox the in-form Devdutt Padikkal and force him to play the wrong line and get bowled.

But that's how far Tamil Nadu would go with the ball, as Mayank joined Rahul in Karnataka's quest for a successful run-chase at large, and a swift partnership to take the VJD par-score out of the way as dark clouds hovered over. To their advantage, Dinesh Karthik's bowling options weren't inspiring enough to force the chaser to a corner.

Karthik's expectation of his quicks replicating what Karnataka's pacers pulled off didn't come to fruition, as Mayank and Rahul unfurled drives at will. At the 10-over mark, Karnataka had 64 runs on the board for the loss of one wicket. Such was Karnataka's grip on proceedings that Karthik summoned his entire side for an impromptu team huddle to figure the best way ahead.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018

The Mumbai-Delhi final had its share of drama, for most parts, an exciting swing here, swing there contest where bowlers dictated terms, only for Mumbai to emerge victorious and win their first Vijay Hazare title since 2007 at the back of a 105 run partnership by two of their least utilized players in tournament.

There were times in the game when Delhi threatened to wrestle the control from Mumbai. Himmat Singh threatened with a 65-ball 41 before Tare's lightening quick work behind the stumps ended his stay. Suboth Bhati did too after he was caught off a no-ball. It was bizarre that Tushar Deshpande went on a celebration and extended a send-off to the batsman who had mistimed a swat to mid-off.

But all this while, Delhi was only threatening to seize control, nothing much. It was Navdeep Saini's first spell which completely turned the course of the contest. On a lively wicket, he bowled seven uninterrupted overs with the new ball - picking the wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav, the last of which was controversial.

Mumbai's much-famed top order had lost the battle to Delhi's in-form new ball duo, and left their middle order constants to pull them out of quicksand. Neither Tare nor Lad had spent enough time in the middle all through the series, with the top order doing the bulk of the job. However, when the occasion arrived, they stood up to the challenge.

Together, they took sucked away 105 runs from the target with their fifth wicket alliance, and more or less sealed the fate of the game. Dubey hit some lusty blows towards the end and took the team over the line with four wickets in hand and 91 balls to spare, to help Mumbai's to their third Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Karnataka won Vijay Hazare Trophy

From the moment he smashed an exquisite cover drive off the very first delivery of the match bowled by Saurashtra Jaydev Unadkat, it was more or less clear that Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal was ready for big one.

It was the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy but Mayank showed no nerves and with the Karnataka players being used to playing such games, they had the last laugh at the end of the day. Saurashtra, who had hoped to pull off an upset win, lost the match by 41 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. This is Karnataka's first domestic trophy of the season after having lost out on the Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Asked to bat first, Karnataka failed to last their full quota of overs as they were bowled out for 253 in 45.5 overs. However, the total proved quite a handful for Saurashtra, who in reply, folded up for 212 in 46.3 overs. Saurashtra had a bright start to the day as they were able to send back two of Karnataka's accomplished batsmen with just five on the board. Skipper Karun Nair and KL Rahul fell without troubling the scorers in the third over of the game. However, Mayank, who has been in sublime form this season, never let those setbacks affect his game. He and Ravi Kumar Samarth (48) got the innings back on track with a 136-run stand for the third wicket before he fell.

Mayank dominating innings of 90 off just 79 balls was studded with 11 fours and three sixes. He was in such good knick that even a mistimed shot went over the boundary. It was unfortunate that he fell 10 short of what would have been another well-deserved century. After Mayank departure, the Karnataka batsmen failed to build on the foundation. Pavan Deshpande (49) and Shreyas Gopal (31) took the score beyond the 250 mark.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017

Senior Pro Dinesh Karthik produced an innings of character before Tamil Nadu disciplined bowling effort saw them beat Bengal by 37 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final at the Freoz Shah Kotla in Delhi.

This was the third time that Tamil Nadu prevailed over Bengal in the 50-over competition, having beaten them in 2008—09 and 2009—10. Tamil Nadu won the tournament in 2002-03 as well and shared the trophy with Uttar Pradesh in 2004-05. Karthik (112) was the only significant scorer for Tamil Nadu in their total of 217 in 47.2 overs as Mohammed Shami bowled with a lot of fire, taking 4 for 26. Ashok Dinda (3/36) also rattled the top order.

But the Tamil Nadu bowlers showed unbelievable discipline restricting Bengal to 180 on a pitch that didn’t have any demons. Off-spinner Washington Sundar (0/17) didn’t get wickets but kept the Bengal batsmen on tenterhooks in his eight-over spell. Rahil Shah, Aswin Crist and Mohammed Mohammed all chipped in to defend a small total. Trying to be extra cautious, Shreevats Goswami (23) consumed a lot of deliveries at the onset increasing the pressure. A poor call led to Abhimanyu Easwaran’s (1) run out.

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary (32) was bowled by his Tamil Nadu counterpart Vijay Shankar while trying to play across the line. It was a delivery that needed to be played on the front foot but he committed on the back foot. Sudeep Chatterjee (58) and Anushtup Majumdar (24) added 65 runs for the fifth wicket for Bengal but a dodgy leg before off left-arm spinner Rahil Shah started another collapse. Chatterjee then played an atrocious sweep shot, only to get bowled round the legs off left-arm spinner Sai Kishore as Bengal’s hopes ended.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015

Parthiv Patel produced his first century in Style to give Gujarat their maiden title. A collapse after Parthiv wicket had left the issue open in giving Delhi a manageable target of 274, but Veteran RP Singh, playing his first match in the knockout stages, settled the matter with an opening burst of 4 for 23, which includes a first ball wicket of Rishabh Pant and later those of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir.

Parthiv and Bhatt added 149 runs for the third wicket, the highest for the third wicket in his tournament. Parthiv hit 10 fours, mainly through cuts and flicks off the hips. Bhatt hit four fours and a six in his 60 off 74 balls, which took his tournament tally to 338, which is the highest for Gujarat and ninth highest overall. They were helped along by two sets of four overthrows, various fumbles and a few clumsy dives.

Delhi came back into the chase with some hope, but RP squashed it immediately. With a generous sprinkling of grey in this beard, RP might look older than his 30, but the ball is still coming out all right from his hand. The only blip on Gujarat night arrived when Bhatt dropped Unmukt Chand off the bowling of Kalaria, but he made up for it soon enough when he accepted a low offering from Gambhir at first slip.

As wickets continued to fall, the only man capable of a miraculous comeback was Chand. He played attractive shots in his 33 off 48, but once he placed Jasprit Bumrah on the contest was officially over. Negi half century managed to push the score past 100. This was Gujarat Maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title. Parthiv and RP Singh were awarded Player of the match awards.