Vijay Hazare Trophy: Upbeat Karnataka look to build on great start

Bengaluru: Riding a record-breaking performance, Karnataka will hope to replicate their performance against Kerala when the two sides meet for their second Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group A fixture at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.

Having endured a humbling Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign, where they won just two games in seven, an embattled Karnataka raised their standards in their tournament opener against an upbeat Jharkhand.

India international Devdutt Padikkal led the batting show with a sublime 118-ball 147, lacing it with 10 fours and seven sixes while skipper Mayank Agarwal also struck a fluent fifty, before an unbeaten 88-run partnership of 41 balls between Abhinav Manohar and debutant Dhruv Prabhakar sealed a brilliant 413-run chase in 47.3 overs. 

Karun Nair and Smaran R drew average returns against Jharkhand but Karnataka would be thrilled to have won the game without significant contributions from two of their best batters this Ranji Trophy season.

The 34-year-old Karun, who was the top-scorer in the last edition with 779 runs at a jaw-dropping average of 389.5, can take the attack to any opposition and Kerala will be wary of the same. Young batting sensation Smaran also failed to kick on after a decent start and Karnataka would hope for both middle-order batters to fire in unison.

Back in the drawing room, strategies to improve bowling performance will be running high on head coach Yere Goud’s mind as five of the six bowlers leaked at over seven runs an over.

Turning to Kerala, they come into the game on the back of a comfortable 145-run victory over Tripura at the Gujarat College Cricket.

Vishnu Vinod was the star of the show, smashing a 62-ball 102 while opener Rohan Kunnummal scored a 92-ball 94. On the bowling front, Baba Aparajith returned with a five-for to get their campaign off on a rousing note.

However, despite the confident start, Kerala could find it hard to stop a confident Karnataka unit.