Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: Karun-Padikkal drive Karnataka past Mumbai; Harvik’s century books Saurashtra semifinal spot

Classy knocks from Devdutt Padikkal (81 not out, 95b, 11×4) and Karun Nair (74 not out, 80b, 11×4) drove Karnataka to a 55-run victory (via VJD method) over Mumbai in their Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (1) Ground here on Monday.

The duo took Karnataka to a comfortable 187 for one in pursuit of 255. Play was called off due to bad light and a drizzle, leading to Karnataka being declared the winner.

Under overcast conditions, the pitch offered zip and bounce, making run scoring difficult. Padikkal and Karun executed the chase efficiently in this tricky setting.

Padikkal, the highest run-scorer in the tournament thus far, benefitted immensely from two dropped catches. Batting on 24, the southpaw was put down by Omkar Tarmale, who barely got his hands on the ball running in from fine-leg. A short while later, Padikkal could barely believe his luck when Angkrish Raghuvanshi spilled a regulation chance at slip.

Karun returned to form after a brief slump. He felt the middle of the bat early with a crunching back-foot drive to get off the mark on his third delivery.

A depleted Mumbai found it hard to keep up. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube were away on India duty, and the side took another major blow when form batter Sarfaraz Khan was ruled out due to an injury. Fast bowler Tushar Deshpande was another absentee, out for personal reasons.

Mumbai was in trouble after being asked to bat, with the four-pronged Karnataka seam attack making the most of helpful conditions. Vidyadhar Patil extracted just reward for sticking to the corridor of uncertainty, scalping three wickets.

From 60 for four, it was left to Shams Mulani (86, 91b, 8×4) to pull off a rescue act. Siddhesh Lad (38, 54b, 4×4) provided support, while Sairaj Patil (33 not out, 25b, 5×4, 1×6) swung his bat around in the death to give Mumbai a respectable score.

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In another curtailed quarterfinal, Saurashtra rode on an unbeaten century from captain Harvik Desai (100 not out, 116b, 8×4, 2×6) to defeat Uttar Pradesh at the BCCI CoE (2).

The match was evenly poised with Saurashtra on 238 for three chasing 311. When the covers came on, Saurashtra was slightly ahead of the curve in the VJD calculations.

In the semifinal, Karnataka will face the winner of the Delhi vs Vidarbha quarterfinal, which will be held here on Tuesday. Saurashtra takes on the winner of the Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh outing.

Published on Jan 12, 2026