Mayank Agarwal played a captain’s knock to steer Karnataka to a nervous one-wicket win in an oscillating contest against Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C encounter in Ahmedabad.
The veteran batter remained unbeaten on 139 to see his side through to its third consecutive win in the competition, a result that looked impossible when the side needed 45 runs with only one wicket in hand.
Set a target of 247, Karnataka looked to be in trouble when Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma ran through the top order to leave the side reeling at 84 for four, but skipper Agarwal forged critical partnerships through the middle to keep the side afloat.
With not much juice in the wicket, Agarwal and fellow opener Nikin Jose had safely waded through the initial spells from Arshdeep Singh and Baltej Singh, putting up a fifty-run partnership.
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Nikin fell for 13, looking to loft Abhishek over midwicket which opened the door for a spurt of wickets. Abhishek got the ball to turn in to the left-hander on a pitch that was starting to throw up dust as the day progressed. The left-arm spinner picked a sharp return catch to dismiss Smaran R before forcing KL Shrijith to inside edge one to the keeper.
Agarwal’s partnerships with Shreyas Gopal and Abhinav Manohar looked to take the game Karnataka’s way before two late wickets from Arshdeep turned the tide once again.
The 33-year-old used all his experience to help number eleven batter V. Koushik wade through the final overs, refusing singles during the early part of the over to protect the tailender before choosing the right ball to put away to the boundary – a task he did with much aplomb, finishing the game with more than two overs to spare.
After being put in to bat, Punjab openers got a brisk start with no movement on offer for the pacers despite a chill start to the morning. After a few wayward deliveries, debutant Abhilash Shetty, who replaced the injured Vidyadhar Patil, prised out Abhishek for 17, with Nikin taking a diving catch to his left at extra cover. Prabhsimran lofted a couple of full-length deliveries back over the bowler’s head before nicking one while trying to step down the track.
Anmolpreet Singh and Nehal Wadhera set out to rebuild the innings but found scoring difficult early with Karnataka placing a fielder at gully to block the single to third man. The scoring rate picked up when the spinners came into operation with the batters putting away anything too short.
Karnataka suffered a jolt when V Vyshak pulled up clutching his quadriceps just ahead of his third over, forcing the team to use Nikin as the sixth bowling option. The forced change proved to be a blessing in disguise as the part-timer cleaned up Wadhera with a full, tossed-up delivery before forcing Anmolpreet to hole out at deep midwicket right after his fifty.
With over twenty overs left in the contest, wicketkeeper Anmol Malhotra and Sanvir Singh combined for a 42-run partnership to steady the ship before Abhilash bowled an inspired second spell, picking up a maiden five-wicket haul to restrict Punjab to 247.
Brief Scores
Punjab 247 all out in 49.2 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 51, Anmol Malhotra 42, Abhilash Shetty 5/44) lost to Karnataka 251/9 in 47.3 overs (Mayank Agarwal 139 n.o., Abhishek Sharma 4/56)