Himachal Pradesh caused a huge upset as they defeated the mighty Tamil Nadu in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 in Jaipur to lift their first-ever domestic title in any format of the game. The team led by Rishi Dhawan created history as they won the final by 11 runs via the VJD method.
Dhawan had won the toss and chose to bowl first and his decision paid rich dividends as Tamil Nadu was reduced to 40/4 with the captain himself taking two wickets.
Then Dinesh Karthik and Baba Indrajith came together and stitched a 202 runs partnership for the fifth wicket. Indrajith got out for 80 runs in 71 balls with 8 fours and 1 six to his name, but Dinesh Karthik went on to make 116 in 103 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes to his name.
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Tamil Nadu needed some momentum in the final overs to get to a good total and Shahrukh Khan smashed 42 in 21 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes and Vijay Shankar, the skipper made 22 in 16 balls as the team posted a final total of 314 in 49.2 overs.
Pankaj Jaswal picked 4/59, while captain Dhawan took 3/62 for Himachal Pradesh.
In reply, opener Shubham Arora anchored one end of the innings, while Prashant Chopra (21) and Nikhil Gangta (18) got starts, but couldn’t continue on. However, Amit Kumar made a crucial 74, and then captain Rishi Dhawan capped off a brilliant tournament with both ball and the bat, scoring 42* in 23 balls with 5 fours and 1 six.
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Arora remained unbeaten on 136 in 131 balls with 13 fours and 1 six, when umpires stopped play due to bad light and Himachal Pradesh were named winners of the match and champions of the 2021 Vijay Hazare Trophy by 11 runs via VJD method.
Shubham Arora was named the Player of the Match for his unbeaten century.
The Indian cricket fraternity was all praises for Rishi Dhawan, who finished the tournament with second-most runs (458) and second-most wickets (17), and lauded the Himachal Pradesh team for their championship-winning performance on Twitter.
Here are the tweets:
