INDORE: If
Mayank Agarwal had Steve Waugh's wit, he might would have said, "You dropped the Cup, mate," to Vishal Gite. Agarwal, trying to hit back-to-back boundaries, miscued a drive. Karnataka, chasing 156, were 26/1 at that time. Gite, running backwards, failed to hold on to the catch.
Agarwal was on five when he got the first reprieve. Over the next 15 overs, Agarwal, having got another life on 38, made the Maharashtra team pay heavily for their largesse. The right-hand batsman hit an unbeaten 85 (57b; 6x4; 3x6) and stitched a crucial 92-run partnership with Rohan Kadam (60; 39b; 6x4; 3x6) to propel Karnataka to a comprehensive 8-wicket win over Maharashtra in the final at the Holkar Stadium on Thursday.
Having won almost everything, the one prize missing from Karnataka's cabinet was the
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
. Kadam continued with his red-hot form while Agarwal made most of the charmed life to help Karnataka fill that void.
Kadam and Agarwal launched a scathing attack on Maharashtra bowlers despite the early loss of BR Sharath. In the fourth over, after being dropped by Gite, Agarwal hit the bowler Satyajeet Bachhav for a six and a four as Karnataka raced to 40 for 1 in four overs. The pair added 88 more in the next seven overs when Agarwal got one more life. This time, the guilty was Maharashtra skipper
Rahul Tripathi as he failed to grab a catch off Fallah's bowling in the 11th over.
Agarwal was on 38 at that time. Next over, Kadam, after posting his fifth half century of this edition, got out trying to hit Divyang Hinganekar on the leg side.
Agarwal added 92 runs for the second wicket in 59 balls with Kadam. Later, Agarwal scored 43 of the 53-run third wicket partnership with Karun Nair as Karnataka finished off the match nine balls to spare. Earlier, Naushad Shaikh's unbeaten half century (69;41b;5x4;3x6) guided Maharashtra to 155 for 4.
Brief Scores: Maharashtra 155/4 ( Naushad Shaikh 69 not out, Rahul Tripathi 30,
Ankit Bawne
29;
Abhimanyu Mithun 2-24) lost to Karnataka 159/2 (Mayank Agarwal 85 not out, Rohan Kadam 60; D M Hinganekar 1-21) by 8 wickets.
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