Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal delighted after nervy win over Punjab

Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal delighted after nervy win over Punjab

Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal was ecstatic after his side managed to eke out a one-wicket win against Punjab to remain undefeated in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The opener was the protagonist of the chase, remaining not out on 139 off 127 balls, stitching an unbeaten 51-run stand with V. Koushik for the last wicket to see his side across the finish line in Ahmedabad. 

“Unbelievable victory, I must say. For us to chase 248 from the position we were in at 200 for nine, I think this one of the closest and tightest games we have played,” the 33-year-old reckoned. 

“We are very happy with the way we have turned up and played cricket. We won three games on the trot. We chased 382 against Mumbai and then for us to win this game, it’s a quality feeling,” he added.

A half-century from Anmolpreet Singh and contributions from the middle order helped Punjab post 247 after being sent in by a Karnataka side that ended up being a bowler short following an injury to V. Vyshak. 

“I just felt there was a little bit of moisture. We won the toss, bowled first and tried to exploit that,” Mayank said.

“I thought we did well to restrict Punjab to 247, especially being a bowler down. I thought we did a phenomenal job,” the skipper added. 

Despite losing a flurry of wickets to Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma in the chase, Mayank said he was confident of hunting the target down if one batter played till the end.

“The conversations were only that one of us had to bat through. If we bat 50 overs, we will chase down the score. It was never a matter of the run rate going high,” the batter said. 

“It was just about batting overs and that belief and the trust was there in our skills and in everybody else coming into bat to go out there and get the runs. That’s exactly what we did,” he added. 

Mayank ensured Koushik did not face too many balls against the Punjab attack, hogging most of the strike, with the tailender also playing his part with some solid defensive batting. The pair had combined for a similar partnership during the Ranji Trophy semifinal in the 2022/23 season, although the result did not favour them then. 

“I was looking to take the game till the 50th over. They would have had to try and attack. We were thinking that even if we need 20 from two overs at the end we can still make a match out of it. But let’s not try to be in a hurry to get the runs and lose the game,” the veteran batter said.