Abhimanyu Mithun Takes Hat-Trick On Birthday, Karnataka Beat Tamil Nadu To Win Vijay Hazare Trophy

Abhimanyu Mithun took a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick on his birthday as Karnataka sealed a 60-run win via the VJD method against Tamil Nadu to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This was the first time since 2017 that Karnataka had lifted the Vijay Hazare Trophy, having won against Saurashtra in the final by 41 runs. It was a fitting end for a side that had dominated the tournament right from the beginning but it was a wonderful story of redemption for Mithun, who became the first Karnataka bowler to take a hat-trick on a birthday.

With the threat of rain later in the day, Karnataka won the toss and chose to bowl and they started off brilliantly when Mithun had Murali Vijay edging second ball to KL Rahul to be dismissed for zero. Ravichandran Ashwin, promoted up the order, scratched around for eight before he was sent back by V Koushik. Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith stitched a solid stand, with Mukund looking fluent. Mukund went past fifty and looked good for a century but the 124-run stand ended when Mukund holed out to Mayank Agarwal off Prateek Jain.

Vijay Shankar started off aggressively as Aparajith went past his fifty. However, he failed to capitalise on a good score. Dinesh Karthik fell cheaply but Shankar helped Tamil Nadu cross 200. Shahrukh Khan struck a good cameo but Mithun was superb at the death overs. After getting rid of Shankar, Mithun took a hat-trick in the final over. His first victim was Shahrukh when he holed out to Manish Pandey. M Mohammed followed suit and the hat-trick was completed when Murugan Ashwin was caught by Krishnappa Gowtham for 0. Mithun finished with 5/43 in 9.5 overs as Tamil Nadu managed to reach 252 all out.

The hosts were boosted when Washington Sundar conceded 15 runs in his first over and Devdutt Padikkal smashed two boundaries off Ashwin. However, Karnataka lost Padikkal for 11 when Sundar breached his defences but KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal stitched a brilliant stand. Agarwal continued the momentum by lofting Shankar inside out over extra cover while Thangarasu Natarajan was smashed for three fours in one over. 

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Agarwal continued to bat aggressively and he was given good support by Rahul as the duo made rapid progress. Agarwal notched up his fifty off 41 balls and he continued on his merry ways by launching Murugan Ashwin for his third six. Rahul notched up his fifty with two boundaries off Mohammed but the rain came down after the end of 23rd over. After a 40 minute halt due to the rain, the umpires reckoned that there was not enough time to finish the match and Karnataka were crowned the champions for the fourth time.

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