New Delhi: Karnataka defeated Vidarbha by 36 runs in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and clinched their fifth title at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday, January 18. Mayank Agarwal and Co. had a brilliant campaign in the tournament as they finished the group stage with six victories in seven games.

They defeated Baroda in the quarterfinal by 5 runs and Haryana by five wickets in the semifinal before beating the unbeaten Vidarbha in the final to end their five-year trophy drought.

After being asked to bat first, Karnataka posted a mammoth 348 runs total in the 50 overs. Yash Thakur removed Devdutt Padikkal on 8 runs while Bhute dismissed Aneesh (21) and Mayank (32) to put pressure on Karnataka.

But Smaran Ravichandran stitched two-century partnerships with KL Shrijith and Abhinav Manohar. Samran notched up his brilliant century while Shrijith scored 78 runs and Manohar also scored 79 runs to help the team post a massive total on the scoreboard.

Chasing the 349 runs target, opener Dhruv Shorey scored his third consecutive hundred in the knockouts and Harsh Dubey also fought hard but other batters failed to make any contribution in the match.

Karnataka won their first title in the 2013-14 season and also defended the title in the next season. They clinched their third Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2017-18 season with Agarawal as the top run-scorer while Padikkal emerged as the highest run-getter when Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu to win their fourth title in the 2019-20 season.

Karnataka won the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the record fifth time and Tamil Nadu clinched the title three times while Mumbai and Saurashtra also won the title two times each.

Vijay Hazare Trophy winners list