Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka thrash Assam by 111 runs in Group A fixture; Punjab, Baroda secure victories

Bengaluru: Opener Mayank Agarwal led Karnataka’s strong batting performance with a brisk 84 as they thrashed Assam by 111 runs in a Group A Vijay Hazare Trophy match in Bengaluru on Thursday. The star of the day, however, was medium pacer Prasidh Krishna, who returned impressive figures of 6/33 to help Karnataka complete an easy win. [caption id=“attachment_4221359” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty[/caption] Sent into bat, Ravikumar Samarth and skipper Karun Nair contributed an unbeaten 70 and 58, respectively, at the Just Cricket Academy Ground. While Samarth slammed his runs in 61 balls, Nair needed 57 deliveries to score his runs, as Karnataka notched up a competitive 303 for six in the stipulated 50 overs. Down the order, Pavan Deshpande made a quick 43 off 39 balls. In reply, Assam were bowled out for 192 in 47.2 overs, failing to stand up to Krishna’s bowling. Sibsankar Roy top-scored for Assam with 64 off 93 balls, while seamer Abu Nechim Ahmed made a breezy 43 off 33 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes. Had it not been for Roy and Abu’s efforts, Asaam, who lost wickets at regular intervals after a poor start, would have faced an embarrassment. Earlier Mayank hit 10 boundaries and two sixes, Nair found the fence six times and cleared it once, and Samarth also dealt in boundaries. It was the 100-run partnership between Mayank and Nair that held the Karnataka innings, before the Samarth-Deshpande fifty stand helped them inch closer to 300. In another Group A match, Punbjab defeated Odisha by a comfortable 86-run margin with Gurkeerat Singh scoring an unbeaten century, while Baroda got the better of Haryana by 51 runs.