Keen tussle on cards as in-form Agarwal’s Karnataka face holders Haryana in Hazare semifinal

Vadodara, Jan 14 (PTI) Seeking a break in IPL after going unsold in mega auction, Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal will look to extend his incredible run of form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy when he leads his team out in their semi-final against defending champions Haryana here on Wednesday.

If four-time winners Karnataka have the likes of Agarwal, Shreyas Gopal and Vijaykumar Vyshak in their ranks, Haryana will be banking on in-form players such as Nishant Sindhu, Anshul Kamboj and Ankit Kumar to get the job done for their side.

While a return to the national fold may not seem realistic at this stage of his career, the 33-year-old Agarwal would want to impress the IPL franchises with a strong finish to the tournament in which he has already amassed four hundreds against Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Hyderabad and Nagaland.

Apart from the sensational Karun Nair, Agarwal is the only other batter to have aggregated over 600 runs in the season so far.

The veteran opener has so far scored 619 runs at an excellent average of 123.80, while striking the ball at a rate of 109.75 to show his aggressive intent throughout the season.

Karnataka can also afford to lean on the shoulders of KV Aneesh, who has totalled 342 runs from eight matches going into the first semifinal. Also, Devdutt Padikkal had smashed a century in their win over Baroda in the quarterfinals.

When it comes to bowling, Agarwal’s top performers so far have been his experienced deputy Shreyas Gopal (16 wickets in 8 matches) and seamer Vasuki Koushik (17 wickets in 10 matches).

Karnataka topped Group C before defeating Baroda by five runs in a close quarter-final match but in Haryana, they could probably face their most difficult test of the premier tournament.

There is no dearth of match-winners in the Haryana line-up.

Amit Kumar has scored 507 runs from 10 matches at a fine average of 56.33, while the 20-year-old Nishant Sindhu has been brilliant with both bat and ball.

Sindhu has scored 313 runs with the willow and has picked 12 wickets with his left-arm spin at an excellent economy rate of 4.98.

Kamboj has been very impressive with the ball, having claimed 18 wickets in 10 games while playing a vital role in Haryana’s run to the semifinals.

A handy batter lower down the order besides being a very promising seamer, Kamboj has the ability to move the ball both ways and could prove to be a difficult customer for the Karnataka batsmen.

Haryana entered the semi-finals by finishing second in Group A and defeating Bengal and Gujarat in the preliminary quarter-final and quarter-final, respectively.