Himachal Pradesh opener Shubham Arora scored a brilliant century to help his side claim their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title, beating Tamil Nadu in the final match by 11 runs (VJD method), played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, in Jaipur. The umpires eventually had to call off the play due to bad light. Himachal Pradesh were 11 runs ahead of the par score -288 at 47.3- when the play was stopped and they were announced winners.
The 24-year old opening batsman scored a fantastic 136 not out off 131 balls to help his side in winning their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy. The opener’s innings comprised of 13 boundaries and one six. Arora got support from his fellow teammate Amit Kumar who scored 74 off 79 deliveries in the fourth-wicket partnership. His innings was laced with six boundaries.
Karthik saves the day
Earlier Himachal Pradesh skipper Rishi Dhawan won the toss and elected to bowl first. Batting first, Tamil Nadu scored a formidable total of 314 all out in 49.4 overs. Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik played a terrific inning of 116 off just 103 deliveries to help his side reach a solid total.
Before the final the wicketkeeper-batsman was Tamil Nadu’s top run-scorer with 260 runs from seven matches at an average of 43.33. He had smashed 2 fifties before the final. The experience of Karthik was expected to come handy in the final clash and It did come handy but eventually that was not enough for Tamil Nadu who were aiming for a double after claiming the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy this season.
The Himachal bowlers had good start and within the 15th over of the innings, four Tamil Nadu batsmen were dismissed back to the pavilion, putting just 40 runs on board. But then it was Karthik's show. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer rescued his side and helped his steam in reaching a solid total of 314.
For Tamil Nadu, batsman Baba Indrajith also supported the wicketkeeper-batsman by playing an inning of 80 runs.
Partnership with Indrajith
Then Karthik, who came out to bat at number 5, managed the innings calmly with Indrajith and took it forward. Both the batsmen did not give the Himachal bowlers any chance to look terrifying. A solid partnership of 202 runs between the two changed the momentum of the game. Indrajith scored 80 runs with Karthik and he got out when the team's score was 242 for five.
However, by the time Indrajith was out, Tamil Nadu had made a good comeback. After this, the 36-year old wicketkeeper went on to score 116 runs off 103 balls after scoring a century in the pursuit of hitting big shots.
During his century, Karthik notched 74 runs off just 15 balls through boundaries. Apart from his century and Indrajith's innings, later Shah Rukh Khan also scored 42 runs off 21 balls with the help of 3 fours and 3 sixes and with a strike rate of 200.
Due to their impressive batting display Tamil Nadu managed to cross the score of 300. Pankaj Jaswal was the pick of the bowlers for Himachal Pradesh as he managed to scalp four crucial wickets.
Arora's ton
In reply, Himachal Pradesh opener Arora looked dangerous from the beginning but he was lacking a telling support from the other end. But eventually, it was Kumar who came to his side's rescue and scored a half-century to seal the maiden title for his side.
For Tamil Nadu, bowlers like Sandeep Warrier and Vijay Shankar could not even pick up a single wicket.
The two teams - Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu made it to the final in a pretty contrasting manner. While Rishi Dhawan-led Himachal reached into the final beating Services by 77 runs, Tamil Nadu on the other hand, won a last-ball thriller to knock out Saurashtra by two wickets.
What is VJD mehtod?
The VJD method is a method of calculating target scores in limited-over cricket matches, devised by V Jayadevan. It is a method that is an alternative to the DLS (Duckworth, Lewis and Sterne) method. The VJD method was considered for use in the fourth and fifth seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL).