HAR vs KAR

So that'll be all from this contest but there's a second semifinal lined up tomorrow at this very venue as Vidarbha take on Maharashtra with the winner proceeding to play Karnataka in the final. A lot to look forward to with the in-form Karun Nair on one side and Ruturaj Gaikwad on the other - do join us again for our coverage of that contest here on Sportskeeda. For the moment, you can switch tabs and follow our coverage of the SA20 clash between Paarl Royals and MI Cape Town over here! Until next time, this is the duo of Keshav Singh Chundawat and Sooryanarayanan Sesha bidding adieu. Good night and see you again!

Four finals, four-time champions. That's been Karnataka's story in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. And they will look to make it five out of five when they head back here to the Kotambi Stadium for the summit clash on Saturday. Haryana have had a good season but it's a good time to reflect on what could have been done better having exit today in the semifinals. They will now regroup before resuming the next phase of the Ranji Trophy in a little over a week's time.

Mayank Agarwal (Karnataka captain): It's a good stat to have (winning every Vijay Hazare final till date). The guys are putting in those performances and taking responsibility. (What changed from the SMAT?) Just two-three things, just about preparing. We spoke about winning crucial moments in the Syed Mushtaq Ali. We couldn't do that in that tournament but credit to the boys for working on that this tournament - not just physically but mentally. We bowled really well. At the start of the game if you'd asked us, we'd have been really happy with 240. Obviously there are a couple of areas to improve and we look to do that after every game. Fantastic - for Dev to come back from Australia and put in two match-winning performances is phenomenal and even Smaran, he has batted beautifully throughout the tournament. It's great to see youngsters take responsibility and win games for Karnataka.

Devdutt Padikkal is the Player of the Match for his stellar innings of 86 off 113. Here's what he has to say: It's a format that I enjoy batting in. Whenever I've come back to play for Karnataka it's always a pleasure and I enjoy doing that. (Strategy) It was to keep it simple, look to play straight down the ground. That was something we were focusing on - to get onto the front foot since it was keeping low. Me and Smaran were able to do that and pick up the singles. I was telling everyone coming in to bat to move their body towards the ball because the more you hang back the more difficult it gets on a pitch like this. He (Smaran) batted beautifully. (Disappointed on missing the hundred?) That's always great to have but as long as Karnataka is winning, I am happy.

Ankit Kumar (Haryana captain): We were 20-30 runs short. With 100/2 after 20 overs, we were eyeing a score of 270-280 runs. But Karnataka did not let us build the momentum from there, and they kept striking at regular intervals to not allow us to settle. Someone will have to take the responsibility for the collapse. When I and Himanshu were set, we should have gone all out against them. So, it's everyone's fault in the batting department, but we are trying, and it can happen in a match or two. We were going well with the ball, but that partnership after the second wicket was extraordinary, and that took us out of the game.

9:15 PM IST: Karnataka beat Haryana by 5 wickets to advance to the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25!

Devdutt Padikkal 86 (113) | Abhilash Shetty 4/34 (10)
Ankit Kumar 48 (52) | Nishant Sindhu 2/47 (10)

A smooth run chase for Karnataka as the three-time champions sail into the summit clash. The result was set up by disciplined bowling performance led by Abhilash Shetty's four-fer which meant that they never had to chase a daunting total even as they found it difficult to clean up the last wicket. Things began on a dodgy note with regards to their chase too as in-form skipper Mayank Agarwal was trapped LBW in the very first over by an Anshul Kamboj in-decker.

But thereafter, Devdutt Padikkal took charge, picking up from where he left off in the quarterfinal against Baroda, taking on Sumit Kumar's looseners and putting them away with ease. It allowed KV Aneesh to take his time before the right-hander also got his eye in as a partnership of 62 runs followed for the second wicket. The drinks break brought about a wicket with Aneesh falling in tame fashion to off-spinner Amit Rana and while Nishant Sandhu extracted a bit of turn and some of the short deliveries off the pacers kept low, there wasn't anything threatening in the wicket.

That just allowed Padikkal to pace his innings with ease alongside R Smaran, as the duo milked singles with ease. The Haryana spinners did run through their overs quickly but barring a very close stumping call against Smaran which was eventually ruled in favor of the batter, there were simply not enough chances created by the bowlers. A 128-run stand for the third wicket put the outcome beyond doubt with Smaran raising a half-century of his own even as Padikkal looked set for a hundred.

Just then, two wickets in as many overs saw Padikkal depart before Krishnan Shrijith threw it away. It may have just sent a few nerves jangling in the Karnataka camp but with Smaran around, they had no reasons to worry as the left-hander anchored the next phase with Shreyas Gopal for company. It took a ripper to castle him for 76 but it was too little, too late for Haryana as Karnataka romped home with sixteen deliveries to spare, knocking the defending champions out in the process. Stick around for the presentation...

And there you go! Done and dusted as Karnataka cruise home and march into the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 with a five-wicket win! Haryana will not have a chance of defending their title this time around.

47.2 Sumit Kumar to Abhinav Manohar, strayed on the leg-stump and it brushes the pad and rushes through to fine-leg. And with that Karnataka are into the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 by piping the defending champions Haryana.

47.1 Sumit Kumar to Shreyas Gopal, slower short of a length outside the off stump, Gopal waits and then hits it through point-cover for a single

It's a real surprise that Ankit Kumar hasn't turned to his seamers beyond a point. The spinners have done decently but with wickets not coming regularly enough, he had to try pace at some point. Too late now of course!

A long, hard look here by the third umpire to deem if the fielder did well enough to avert the boundary. After a long hard look, it's clear that there was some contact though and it's a boundary.

46.3 Parth Vats to Shreyas Gopal, FOUR! length delivery outside the off-stump, spins away and Gopal caresses it fine through short-third. The third umpire checks the boundary as Amit Rana slid to save the boundary but failed as he touched the rope.