Abhimanyu Mithun's birthday hat-trick delivers Vijay Hazare Trophy for Karnataka

[Torrent Disney]

Karnataka 146 for 1 (Agarwal 69*, Rahul 52*) beat Tamil Nadu 252 (Abhinav 85, Aparajith 66, Vijay Shankar 38, Mithun 5-34, Koushik 2-39) by 60 runs (VJD method)

Abhimanyu Mithun rang in his 30th birthday in style, and Mayank Agarwal then put on a masterclass that entertained one of the largest crowds seen for a domestic match in India in recent times, as Karnataka won their fourth Vijay Hazare Trophy title with a dominant display against Tamil Nadu.

Mithun took his first five-wicket haul in List A cricket and finished off Tamil Nadu's innings by becoming the first from Karnataka to take a hat-trick in the competition. He ended with 5 for 34 in 9.5 overs, as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 252 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Rain halted Karnataka's chase at 23 overs, but they had waltzed to 146 for 1 by then, well ahead of the VJD par score of 86, with Agarwal batting on 69 off 55 balls. KL Rahul was in the middle with Agarwal, on a sedate 52 not out off 72 balls, as Tamil Nadu's bowlers were sent on a leather hunt.

The win was set up by the Mithun-led bowling performance, which reined Tamil Nadu in each time they looked like they had a launchpad. They still got more than any team had against Karnataka batting first in this year's competition, but it was far from enough.

Mithun had struck the first blow after Manish Pandey won an important toss and chose to field, by removing M Vijay for a duck in the first over. He got his second wicket only in the 46th over, Karun Nair plucking a fine catch at long-on, keeping his balance and holding the ball behind him, when Vijay Shankar couldn't get enough elevation to clear him. It was an important strike, with Tamil Nadu looking to build momentum in the final overs through Vijay Shankar and semi-final hero Shahrukh Khan.

In the final over of the innings, Mithun wiped out Shahrukh, M Mohammed and M Ashwin, all caught on the off-side trying to hit big, but not connecting well enough.

It capped a fine start for the medium-pacer to what could be a tricky season. R Vinay Kumar, his long-time new-ball partner, is now with Puducherry and that left Mithun as the leader of Karnataka's attack. Moreover, the team was also without Prasidh Krishna, their quickest bowler, who had picked up a side strain in the quarter-final.

Mithun carried the burden of being the senior pro well, and emerged as Karnataka's highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 20 scalps at an average of 14.55 and an economy rate of 3.93.

"Prasidh wasn't there in the team, so as a senior, I had to take the responsibility for the team. At the end, hard work paid off," Mithun said after the match. "When we go into a match, everyone knows what they need to do, so there's very less for me to tell them. If they need anything, I go and talk to them."