Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20, Final: Karnataka v Tamil Nadu – Preview, prediction, likely XIs

Karnataka brushed Chhattisgarh aside with some ease in the first semi-final of the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Led by V Koushik (4/46), their bowlers shot out Chhattisgarh for 223. KL Rahul (88*), Devdutt Padikkal (92), and Mayank Agarwal (47*) – playing the day after playing a Test for India – then guided them to a 9-wicket win with 10 overs to spare.

They will be up against Tamil Nadu, the only unbeaten side of the tournament so far, in the final. They restricted Gujarat to 177/9 in 40 overs the other semi-final as Mohammed Mohammed took 3/23. R Ashwin, who, just like Agarwal, had played the Test, had figures of 8-0-21-1. Gujarat then reduced them to 95/5 before Washington Sundar (27*) and Shahrukh Khan (56*) saw them to victory.

While Tamil Nadu are still unbeaten, their wins were against Elite Group C teams. However, in M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Baba Aparajith, and Dinesh Karthik, they do have a very strong batting line-up, and their bowling – already a strong one – has now been bolstered further by the return of Ashwin.

However, there is little doubt that Karnataka’s is the stronger of the two batting line-ups. Manish Pandey and Karun Nair, stalwarts at this level), were not even needed in the semi-final, a match they won comfortably even without Shreyas Gopal and Jagadeesha Suchith. Their bowlers – Abhimanyu Mithun, V Koushik, Ronit More, Praveen Dubey, and Krishnappa Gowtham – have been clinical throughout the tournament.

All in all, this is Karnataka’s match to lose – and by some distance.

Key players

V Koushik (Karnataka): Koushik, spearhead of the Karnataka attack, has been more steady than spectacular throughout the tournament, but got the wickets in the semi-final. He has been consistent, as his numbers – 10 wickets at 16.10, economy 3.70 – suggest.

Mohammed Mohammed (Tamil Nadu): With 16 wickets at 14.87 and 4.70 an over, the slow but accurate Mohammed has been the go-to bowler even in a very strong Tamil Nadu attack. He may be their most important bowler even as T Natarajan and the two Ashwins are likely to hog the limelight.

Likely XIs

Karnataka: KL Rahul (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey (c), Karun Nair, Rohan Kadam, Praveen Dubey, Krishnappa Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, V Koushik.

Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, Baba Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, R Ashwin, M Ashwin, Mohammed Mohammed, T Natarajan.

Prediction

Karnataka to cruise to an easy win.