Defending champion Karnataka survived by the skin of its teeth against Bengal while Punjab proved that it is a strong contender for the title as it brushed aside Odisha’s challenge in the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Sunday. The two will now face off in the final scheduled for Tuesday.
The Harbhajan Singh-led Punjab had earlier topped the North Zone league, before prevailing over Gujarat in the pre-quarterfinals and then thrashing Railways by five wickets in the quarterfinals.
The change of venue from the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium at the eleventh hour to the adjacent ‘B’ ground hardly mattered to a side filled with talented batsmen and a highly-motivated group of bowlers. Punjab though would concede it had plenty of luck with Amitoze Singh, who made 91 in the chase of 238, being reprieved thrice.
Meanwhile at the Motera main ground, rearguard exploits with the bat and ball enabled Karnataka hand a heartbreaking six-run defeat on Bengal. Struggling at 222 for nine, skipper R. Vinay Kumar was joined by tail-ender Abhimanyu Mithun in the 44th over. But Bengal’s strike bowlers Ashoke Dinda and Veerpratap Singh faltered in line and length and allowed the last pair to add 46 off 41 balls and take the total to a respectable 268.
And then as Bengal seemed to be cruising to victory at 256 for five it lost the last half in a heap and was bowled out for 262.
Bengal did everything right after electing to field. Veerpratap struck twice to dimiss Mayank Agarwal and R. Samarth, who replaced Shreyas Gopal. Then Laxmi Ratan Shukla enticed Robin Uthappa to drive and edge to the keeper.
Manish Pandey did not look the part and Stuart Binny played well within himself; it required the arrival of Karun Nair to speed up the scoring rate.
Punjab chose to bowl on a wicket that was fresh. It did not feel the absence of seamer Sandeep Sharma (rested) initially as Deepak Bansal accounted for Paresh Patel in the third over.
Odisha tried to mix caution with aggression, but never in the course of the 50 over first session was it able to push the scoring rate beyond five an over.
Odisha depended largely on Natarj Behera and Arabind Singh’s to deal with Punjab’s attack. Harbhajan Singh made an impact right through his 10-over spell after breaking the second wicket stand between Behera and Anurag Sarangi that delivered 61 runs.
Left arm spinner Yuvraj Singh sent back Odisha captain Biplab Samantaray in the 35th over. Odisha struggled after that with only Arabind scoring 89 off 100 balls.
During its chase, Punjab lost Manan Vohra in the third over but the much-improved Amitoze and Mandeep Singh forged a 167-run partnership that virtually assured their side an emphatic win.
