NAGPUR: When Vidarbha's Jitesh Sharma edged an attempted slog to see himself getting caught at short third-man, Vidarbha were in some trouble. They needed 55 off 31 balls, still chasable in T20s. What was not visible on the scorecard was the pressure they were in for the first time in the in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Vidarbha had chased successfully in both of their previous knockout games against relatively less experienced bowling. On Saturday, they were facing dominant T20 bowlers. Vidarbha succumbed as Karnataka slowly forced a nail in their coffin by taking the pace off balls to enter the final with a 4-run win at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi.
Though Akshay Karnewar and Apoorv Wankhade brought the equation to 14 off the last over, it was a mountain to scale looking at how Karnataka were bowling.
Vidyadhar Patil bowled a typical T20 line - full and wide - to force the win by conceding just one boundary in the last over. The Manish Pandey-led Karnataka will play their third summit clash against Tamil Nadu, who will play their fourth.
When it was left to Wankhade (27 n.o off 22b) and Karnewar (22 off 12b), they had to deal with K Cariappa, a spinner known to choke runs. Cariappa conceded just four runs in the 17th over which tilted the game in Karnataka's side.
Barring Darshan Nalkande's (4-0-28-4) four consecutive wickets in the last over followed by some elegant shots from opener Atharva Taide (32 off 16b), Vidarbha had an off day in the office after opting to field.
It all started with a drop catch from skipper Akshay Wadkar in the first over of the match. Butter-fingered Wadkar dropped a sitter of Rohan Kadam when he was on 4. Kadam went to pile 87 runs and also had 132-run union with skipper Manish Pandey (54).
Chasing a stiff target of 177, Taide gave Vidarbha a flying start as Vidarbha rushed to 40 in 4 overs. However, in order to accelerate, he was caught at long on by Pandey.
Taide's fall slowed down the rate and Vidarbha started losing wickets under pressure. When Ganesh Satish (31 off 27b) was looking good, he threw his wicket, while No.3 Wadkar (15 off 15b) scored run-a-ball and gifted his wicket when he was put under the pump.
Karnewar and Wankhade did try their best but by then it was too little too late for Vidarbha.
