Karun Nair continued his phenomenal run with another cracking innings © BCCI/IPL
Vidarbha booked their place in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final with a convincing 69-run victory over Maharashtra.
Vidarbha were put in to bat for the first time in the tournament, having won all their seven games chasing. But the openers showed no sign of any hesitation as they smashed 12 runs in the opening over.
Openers Yash Rathod (116) and Dhruv Shorey (114) registered a 238-run stand to set a solid platform upfront. The former was the first to be dismissed to give some respite to the Maharashtra bowlers.
But then, the man in form Karun Nair (88*) and Jitesh Sharma (51) took control after taking some time to settle in. They were rewarded for playing their shots on a pitch that aided strokeplay. The batters scored 97 runs in the last six overs to propel Vidarbha to 380 in their allotted overs. Nair smashed 24 runs in the last over with two sixes and three fours off Rajneesh Gurbani. Only Siddhesh Veer gave an economy of less than six an over.
In reply, Maharashtra were never really in the run chase. They lost skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad early for just seven, and the promotion of Rahul Tripathi didn't work out despite a breezy 27.
Arshin Kulkarni scored 90 but it was below a run-a-ball which didn't help the chasing side. Ankit Bawne scored 50 as the two batters put on a 96-run stand but across 14 overs. Nikhil Naik then glittered with 49 off 26 but it only managed to take Maharashtra past the 300-mark.
Brief Scores: Vidarbha 380/3 (Yash Rathod 116, Dhruv Shorey 114, Karun Nair 88*; Mukesh Choudhary 2-80) beat Maharashtra 311/7 (Arshin Kulkarni 90, Ankit Bawne 50; Darshan Nalkande 3-64) by 61 runs
Vidarbha booked their place in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final with a convincing 69-run victory over Maharashtra.
Vidarbha were put in to bat for the first time in the tournament, having won all their seven games chasing. But the openers showed no sign of any hesitation as they smashed 12 runs in the opening over.
Openers Yash Rathod (116) and Dhruv Shorey (114) registered a 238-run stand to set a solid platform upfront. The former was the first to be dismissed to give some respite to the Maharashtra bowlers.
But then, the man in form Karun Nair (88*) and Jitesh Sharma (51) took control after taking some time to settle in. They were rewarded for playing their shots on a pitch that aided strokeplay. The batters scored 97 runs in the last six overs to propel Vidarbha to 380 in their allotted overs. Nair smashed 24 runs in the last over with two sixes and three fours off Rajneesh Gurbani. Only Siddhesh Veer gave an economy of less than six an over.
In reply, Maharashtra were never really in the run chase. They lost skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad early for just seven, and the promotion of Rahul Tripathi didn't work out despite a breezy 27.
Arshin Kulkarni scored 90 but it was below a run-a-ball which didn't help the chasing side. Ankit Bawne scored 50 as the two batters put on a 96-run stand but across 14 overs. Nikhil Naik then glittered with 49 off 26 but it only managed to take Maharashtra past the 300-mark.
Brief Scores: Vidarbha 380/3 (Yash Rathod 116, Dhruv Shorey 114, Karun Nair 88*; Mukesh Choudhary 2-80) beat Maharashtra 311/7 (Arshin Kulkarni 90, Ankit Bawne 50; Darshan Nalkande 3-64) by 61 runs