Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 Final Highlights: Himachal defeat Tamil Nadu to win maiden title

2nd Innings- Himachal Pradesh 299/4 (47.3 overs)

Shubham Arora- 136* (131)

Amit Kumar- 74 (79)

Rishi Dhawan- 42* (23)

Washington Sundar- 1/66 (10 overs)

Baba Aparajith- 1/45 (8 overs)

1st Innings- Tamil Nadu 314/10 (49.4 overs)

Dinesh Karthik- 116 (103)

Baba Indrajith- 80 (71)

Pankaj Jaiswal- 4/59 (9.4 overs)

Rishi Dhawan- 3/62 (10 overs)

Himachal Pradesh brought down the equation of the match to 18 runs needed to win the match off 18 balls, as Rishi Dhawan and Shubham Arora added seven runs from the 47th over. The play was stopped by the on-field umpires after 47.3 overs and Himachal Pradesh went on to pick up their maiden championship title in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, after defeating the five-time champions.

Shubham Arora remained unbeaten after scoring 136 runs off 131 balls alongside skipper Rishi Dhawan, who scored a quick-fire knock of 42 runs off 23 balls. Batting together, both batters scored an unbeaten partnership of 55 runs off 38 balls for the fifth wicket. Himachal won the match by 11 runs after the result was decided by VJD method.

Himachal Pradesh found themselves at 299/4 before the play was stopped, chasing the target of 315 runs set by Tamil Nadu. Shubham Arora also received the player of the match award.

Himachal skipper Rishi Dhawan continued impressing the fans by striking a four off the first ball of the 45th over, while the over ended with 284/4 on the board for the team. The match further slipped off Tamil Nadu's control as Himachal found themselves at 290/4 after the completion of 46 overs. Himachal now need 25 runs off 24 balls to win the match.

Himachal scored a total of 11 runs from the 43rd over of the second innings being bowled by Murugan Ashwin, after Rishi Dhawan hit two consecutive sixes in the final two balls of the over. Dhawan continued his impressive form with the bat by hitting Tamil Nadu spinner Sai Kishore for two more boundaries in consecutive balls and found themselves at 277/4 after 44 overs. Himachal now needs 38 runs from 36 balls to defeat Tamil Nadu.

Amit Kumar started the 41st over of Himachal's chase by hitting a boundary in the first ball, before both batters scored 10 runs in total from the over. However, Amit was dismissed in the first ball of the 42nd over being bowled by Baba Aparajith on the individual score of 74 runs, having added a total of 148 runs for the fourth wicket, batting alongside Shubham Arora. Arora was joined by Himachal skipper Rishi Dhawan in the middle, who opened his account with a single in the first ball, before hitting Aparajith for a six, two balls later. Himachal found themselves at 254/4 after with eight overs remaining in the match. They now need 61 runs from 48 ball to win the match.

Bowling his eighth over of the match, Washington Sundar gave away five runs in the 39th over of Himachal's chase, before Shubham Arora and Amit Kumar added 10 runs more in the 40th over to take their total to 234/3. Himachal need 81 runs from 60 balls to win the match, while Tamil Nadu are in a desperate need of a wicket.

Amit Kumar started the 36th over by hitting Baba Aparajith for a boundary, before scoring a total of seven runs from the over. After adding three runs in the 37th over, centurion for Himachal Shubham Arora hit a six in the second ball of the next over and took Himachal's total to 219/3 after 38 overs. Shubham and Amit are currently batting it out in the middle, on the individual scores of 113 runs and 62 runs respectively. Himachal now needs 96 runs from 12 overs to defeat Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 final.

After Himachal added four runs in the 34th over, Shubham Arora hit Sandeep Warrier for a boundary in the 2nd ball of the next over, before reaching to his century from 95 balls by running a double. At the end of 35 overs, Himachal stands at 199/3, with 116 runs to win the match from 90 balls. Shubham and Amit Kumar have added over 100 runs for the fourth wicket partnership.

Both Himachal batters Amit Kumar and Shubham Arora added four runs from the 31st over and four runs from the 32nd over to take Himachal to 181/3. Amith reached his fifty off 57 balls by taking a single in the fifth ball of the 33rd over, as Sai Kishore gave away five runs in the over. While Amit reached his fifty, his partner Shubham now needs eight runs to reach his century.

Amit Kumar and Shubham Arora scored three runs from the 28th over, before Amit hit a boundary in the second ball of the next over. Both batters added another three runs from the over and added another six runs in the 30th over to take Himachal's total to 173/3 after 30 overs. Arora now requires just 14 runs to reach his century, while Amit requires seven runs more to reach his half-century.

Sandeep Warrier gave away five runs in the 24th over and Washington Sundar gave four runs in the 25th over before Baba Aparajith gave just one runs in the 26th over, bowling his first over of the match. However, Shubham Arora and Amit Kumar added six runs in the 27th over and took Himachal's total to 156/3, with 159 runs required to win the match from 23 overs.

The 22nd over of the second innings started with Amit Kumar taking a single off the first ball before both batters hit one boundary each in the over to score 10 runs from the over. Amit scored another boundary in the 22nd over as Himachal found themselves at 131/1 after 22 overs of play. Smit and Shubham Arora added another nine runs in the next over and inched closer to the target of 315 runs set by Tamil Nadu. Arora is currently batting on 72* runs off 61 balls.

Murugan Ashwin gave away seven runs in the 19th over, before Sandeep Warrier gave just three runs in the 20th over of Himachal's chase. Shubham Arora and Amit Kumar continue the chase batting on 61 and 11 runs respectively. Himachal now need 199 runs from 30 overs to defeat Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021.

Following the dismissal of Gangta, Himachal reached 100 runs on the board in the 17th over, and stood at 102/3 after the over. Amit Kumar and Arora took two singles each in the 18th over to take Himachal's score to 106/3. Arora is currently batting at 58* runs off 50 balls.

Nikhil Gangta and Shubham Arora added four runs to Himachal's total in the 15th over bowled by R Sai Kishore. Arora reached his half-century in 40 balls, before hitting the fifth ball of the 16th over for a four. Having scored five runs in the 16th over, man-in-form Gangta was dismissed by Murugan Ashwin in the first ball of the 17th over. Murugan dismissed Gangta in the very first ball of the first over being bowled by him.

No. 4 batter Nikhil Gangta hit the first six of the innings in the third ball of the 12th over of Himachal's chase as the team found themselves at 71/2 having scored nine runs in the over. Gangta hit another six in the second ball of the 13th over as both batters added nine runs from the over. Meanwhile, Shubham Arora continued his exploits with the bat and hit a boundary off the fifth ball of the 14th over, as Himachal finished at 87/2 after 14 overs. Having scored 47 runs in 37 balls so far, Arora is inching closer to his half-century.

No. 3 Himachal better Digvijay Rangi walked back to the pavilion on a duck after facing just three balls. Washington Sundar bowled out Rangi in the third delivery of the 10th over of Fimchal's chasecr while giving away just two runs. R Sai Kishore bowled a maiden over next, while Himachal stood at 62/2 after 11 overs.

Prashant Chopra hit his second four of the match in the fourth delivery of the 9th over. before Sai Kishore bowled him out in the very next ball. Chopra scored 21 runs off 26 balls and became the first wicket to fall in the innings. The over finished with 6 runas scored in the over.

The seventh over of the match started with Arora's sixth four of the innings before both batters scored another four runs in the over and finished at 52/0. Washington Sundar gave away just two runs in the eighth over.

Shubham Arora finally got the better of Sandeep Warrier in the fifth over of the match as Warrier ended up conceding a total of 17 runs from the over. Arora dispatched the second and third ball of the over for consecutive boundaries and hit another four in the final ball. Himachal went on to add another eight runs in the sixth over, while Prashant Chopra hit his first boundary of the match, in the fifth ball of the over.

Sandeep Warrier continued his economical bowling by giving away just two runs in the second over of the spell, as Chopra played all six deliveries on the over. Shubham Arora continued hitting shots as he started the fourth over with a boundary off R Silambarasan, as the batters scored a total of six runs in the over.

Shubham Arora started the second over by scoring two runs off the first ball by R Silambarasan, while both batters exchanged singles throughout the over before Arora finished the over by scoring the first boundary for Himachal in the innings.

Pacer Sandeep Warrier opened the bowling for Tamil Nadu as they look to defend the high-scoring total of 315 runs. Himachal openers Prashant Chopra and Shubham Arora scored 1 run in the first over as Shubham Arora played all six deliveries.

Tamil Nadu went from a position of comfort to being on the cusp of losing consecutive wickets. Himachal Pradesh's Rishi Dhawan and PP Jaswal's destructive bowling spells contributed to TN's batting order collapse with Karthik and Indrajith's back-to-back dismissals. However, Karthik's 116 and partner Indrajith's 80, along with the quickfire knock of 42 runs off 21 balls by Shahrukh Khan helped the side set up a mammoth total of 314 runs with zero wickets to spare. Among the bowlers, Rishi Dhawan proved to be the costliest giving away 62 runs in 10 overs with three wickets to his credit, while Pankaj Jaiswal took the maximum of four wickets in 9.4 overs while giving away 6.10 runs per over.

1st Innings- 

Dinesh Karthik- 116 (103)

Baba Indrajith- 80 (71)

Pankaj Jaiswal- 4/59 (9.4 overs)

Rishi Dhawan- 3/62 (10 overs)

There is no stopping the formidable pair of Dinesh Karthik and B Indrajith. While Karthik continues to pile on the runs and draws himself closer to a century, Indrajith notched up a crucial fifty under pressure. The duo has put up 181-run stand on the board from 153 balls. 

After a dismal start to Tamil Nadu's campaign, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik joined hands with B Indrajith to steer their side out of trouble. Karthik smashed a brilliant half-century off 67 balls while fellow batsman Indrajith is batting at 34 from 49 balls. 

Cricket fans witnessed over 100 ODIs being played since past 18 days, here we are in the final match of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 tournament where Himachal Pradesh locks horns with Tamil Nadu at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Himachal Pradesh would be competing their first-ever final in any cricket format, southern giants Tamil Nadu have lifted the trophy a total of five times in the tournament's history.

First-time finalists Himachal Pradesh controlled the initial overs of the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, picking four early wickets as Tamil Nadu batting line-up endured a joyless time. Among the bowlers, Rishi Dhawan was the most effective, claiming two wickets in the form of N Jagadeesan and M Ashwin. P P Jaswal, V K Galetiya, and Sidharth Sharma took one wicket each. 

Put in to bat first, Tamil Nadu got off to the worst possible start as the southern giants lost four early wickets inside the first 20 overs. It was the experienced Dinesh Karthik's heroics that is keeping Tamil Nadu back in the game. The wicketkeeper is currently batting at 33 off 44 balls, alongside B Indrajith who has amassed 10 runs from 21 balls.

Tamil Nadu: Baba Aparajith, N Jagadeesan, Vijay Shankar(c), Baba Indrajith, Dinesh Karthik(w), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Manimaran Siddharth, R Silambarasan, Sandeep Warrier, M Mohammed, Murugan Ashwin, Kaushik Gandhi, Sanjay Yadav, Hari Nishanth, Laxmesha Suryaprakash, Jagatheesan Kousik, Ganga Sridhar Raju, P Saravana Kumar, Sai Sudharsan

Himachal Pradesh: Shubham Arora(w), Prashant Chopra, Digvijay Rangi, Nikhil Gangta, Amit Kumar, Rishi Dhawan(c), Akash Vasisht, Pankaj Jaiswal, Mayank Dagar, Vinay Galetiya, Sidharth Sharma, Gurvinder Singh, Sumeet Verma, Priyanshu Khanduri, Ayush Jamwal, Arpit Guleria, Vaibhav Arora, Amit Thakur