Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair take Karnataka to semis

Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair take Karnataka to semis

Vijay Hazare Trophy, 2025-26

Devdutt Padikkal was at it again and he had Karun Nair for company as Karnataka brushed aside Mumbai with ease to progress to the Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal.

In blazing form already, Padikkal made life difficult for Mumbai's bowlers after their batters posted only a modest 254 on the board. With most of their star players not featuring in the contest, Mumbai struggled and were reduced to 60/4 before skipper Siddhesh Lad and Shams Mulani resurrected the side.

While Lad fell for 38, Mulani struck a crucial 91-ball 86 before Sairaj Patil's cameo dragged them past 250.

Karnataka then lost skipper Mayank Agarwal early for just 12 before Padikkal joined forces with Nair to put Karnataka on course. Both batters went past their respective half-centuries in a breeze and added 143 runs for the second wicket before bad light brought an early end to the proceedings. At that point, Karnataka needed 68 runs with 17 overs still left and were adjudged winners by the VJD method.

A strong batting performance from Uttar Pradesh wasn't enough to send them through as Saurashtra came up with the ideal response in the run chase to prevail in the second quarterfinal.

Even though Aryan Juyal departed early for a duck, Abhishek Goswami set up the innings with 88 at the top of the order. Skipper Rinku Singh failed to make an impact but UP were propelled at the death by Sameer Rizvi who hammered an unbeaten 88 whereas the likes of Prashant Veer and Zeeshan Ansari also came up with vital contributions to power UP to 310/8.

Saurashtra were then aided by a century stand for the second wicket between skipper Harvik Desai and Prerak Mankad. UP sensed an opening when Veer broke the partnership followed by another strike from Vipraj Nigam but Desai then joined forces with Chirag Jani to put the chase back on track again.

With the in-form Zeeshan Ansari failing to provide breakthroughs, Saurashtra were coasting towards the target with Desai also reaching three figures. Bad light once again denied the teams a proper finish, declaring Saurashtra as the winners.