Karnataka and Saurashtra cruise to the Vijay Hazare semis with Padikkal and Harvik Desai playing starring roles.
Padikkal, Desai send Karnataka and Saurashtra into VHT semis.
Defending champions Karnataka defeated Mumbai by 55 runs (VJD method), with Devdutt Padikkal continuing his incredible run with an undefeated 81 and Karun Nair scoring 74 not out.
The two put together an uninterrupted 144-run partnership for the second wicket after Karnataka held Mumbai to 254 for 8. Karnataka needed to be 132 for 1 on the VJD par score after 33 overs when the players were dismissed owing to poor lighting. They won easily, going 187 for 1.
Karnataka put on a polished performance against a Mumbai team that was missing a number of key players.
Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav were absent. Mumbai’s top run scorer of the competition, Sarfaraz Khan, was also sidelined on the eve of the match due to a blow in the nets.
When Karnataka began their chase, it was cloudy, and Mumbai’s bowlers were spot on. Mumbai should have had Padikkal twice, but the fielders were unable to catch him, and Mohit Avasthi had Agarwal caught at first slip. Onkar Tarmale was on 24 when Patil hit a top-edge to him at deep fine leg, but the fielder missed the catch. Soon after, Padikkal defeated Avasthi at first slip against Raghuvanshi, who missed a regulation opportunity.
A few fans queued up on the side of Ground 1’s boundary wall created the noise, but there were no spectators at the CoE. From “bye, bye Mumbai” to “Jai Jai, Karnataka” and “who are we?They energised the players as Padikkal and Nair took control. “Karnataka!” they exclaimed.
Because of Prerak Mankad’s all-around performance and Harvik Desai’s undefeated 100, Saurashtra ultimately won the other quarterfinal on ground B.
Sent in, UP amassed 310 for 8 thanks to half-centuries from Sameer Rizvi (88*) and Abhishek Goswami (88). Saurashtra lost starter Vishvaraj Jadeja early, but they were able to move forward thanks to a run-a-ball 133-run partnership between Desai and Mankad.
Sammar Gajjar and Mankad fell swiftly, but Saurashtra raised the stakes because it was raining. For the fourth wicket, Chirag Jani and Desai put on an uninterrupted 76-run partnership in 62 balls. Saurashtra had achieved 238 for 3 and were 17 ahead of the VJD par total by the time the players left for the rain.