Nalkande, Mokhade knock Karnataka out to propel Vidarbha into successive finals

A day short of his 25th birthday, Aman Mokhade gave himself and Vidarbha the perfect gift - a match-winning century that vaulted them into their second straight Vijay Hazare Trophy final. Thursday's win was even more special as they knocked out defending champions Karnataka. Vidarbha now await the winner of Saurashtra vs Punjab in Sunday's final in Bengaluru.

Mokhade anchored Vidarbha's chase of 281 from start to finish. On route his 138 - his fifth List A century of the season - he went past Devdutt Padikkal's tally (725 runs) to become the leading run-getter in the competition. By the time he was dismissed, looking to slash over point, Vidarbha were within 27 runs of their target.

R Samarth then saw off the chase, hitting the winning runs with a delightful on-drive to finish 76 not out as Vidarbha won with 22 balls to spare.

Mokhade's was an innings of two halves. Initially, he dug in and fought through the new-ball burst, fully aware dew could help them later on in the chase. And it did, with run-scoring becoming a lot easier after the 30-over mark. By this point, Vidarbha had eight wickets in hand, with their asking rate having just nudged close to seven an over.

Mokhade's was a largely peerless innings. However, on 96, he offered a half-chance when a top-edged pull landed between Karun Nair and Abhinav Manohar. Nair was running across from mid-on, while Manohar was running in from deep midwicket. The two collided, but a nasty injury was somehow averted.

Two balls later, Mokhade played a neat, little leg glance to the boundary to bring up his century off 101 deliveries. A jubilant Mokhade thumped his bat on the turf, and put his helmet on top of his bat handle to a rousing applause from the Vidarbha dug out. And just like that, the batter who was anguished at the lack of opportunities all through 2024-25, had become the toast of Vidarbha.

At the other end, Samarth battled a few friendly verbal volleys from the opposition. Consigned to being a nearly man during a decade-long career with Karnataka, Samarth constructed a measured half-century during the course of a 147-run third-wicket stand that all but sealed sealed the deal for Vidarbha.

This was Samarth's fourth fifty-plus score of the season. Last week, he made a match-winning 94 against Assam that sealed their spot in the knockouts. The Mokhade-Samarth stand deflated Karnataka, who were without one of their frontline bowlers, Vyshak Vijaykumar who complained of delayed concussion from a blow he took on the helmet while batting.

After bowling four overs, Vyshak walked off the field and was replaced by Manvanth Kumar after the 20th over of Karnataka's innings. Dew also largely negated Shreyas Gopal's legspin - he conceded 55 off eight wicketless overs.

Earlier in the day, Karnataka opted to bat, but lost openers Mayank Agarwal and Padikkal early. Padikkal, in particular, struggled against Yash Thakur, and took 18 deliveries to get off the mark before nicking off.

The innings was then rescued by Nair and Dhruv Prabhakar, with the pair putting on 54. Prabhakar, a late replacement for the injured R Smaran, fell for 28, but Nair and KL Shrijith rebuilt with a century stand before Darshan Nalkande made an impact.

A split-finger slower ball from Nalkande that held onto the surface a touch more than he expected led to Nair mistiming a lofted hit to extra cover for 76. In the very next over, Shrijith followed suit for 54, as Karnataka had to once again re-consolidate at 193 for 5.

Gopal and Manohar briefly held fort, but fell in their quest for quick runs in the end overs as Nalkande sliced through the lower order to finish with 5 for 48. On any other night, this would've been the most impactful performance. However, on Thursday, it was Mokhade who stamped his authority with a masterful century to put his side within a win of claiming their maiden Vijay Hazare title.