Nair, Shorey guide Vid into semis

After Rajasthan posted a challenging 291/8 in 50 overs, Vidarbha charge was masterminded by their opener Dhruv Shorey, who anchored the chase to perfection with a brilliant unbeaten 118, and their captain Karun Nair, who remained unbeaten on 122. Nair’s knock came in 82 deliveries with 13 boundaries and 5 sixes.

The duo came together after the fall of Yash Rathod’s (39) wicket at 92/1 and the two senior pros were involved in an unfinished 200-run stand off 152 balls for the second wicket as Vidarbha reached the target with 6.3 overs to spare.

Shorey’s unbeaten innings, which came off 131 balls and included 10 boundaries and three sixes, won him the Player of the Match Award.

Earlier, Yash Thakur bowled brilliantly, taking 4/39 but Rajasthan recovered from 113/4 in 26.2 overs to make 291/8.

Nair is now on par with former Karnataka teammate Devdutt Padikkal, former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara and ex-South African batter Alviro Petersen as batters with four successive List A hundreds.

The record for most consecutive List A hundreds currently stands in the name of Tamil Nadu's Narayan Jagadeesan, who smashed five centuries on the trot in the 2022-23 edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The 33-year-old Karun now has 664 runs from eight matches at an astonishing average of 664.

BRIEF SCORES

Rajasthan 291/8 in 50 overs (Deepak Hooda 45, Shubham Garhwal 59, Kartik 62, Deepak Chahar 31; Yash Thakur 4/39)

Vidarbha 292/1 in 43.3 overs (Dhruv Shorey 118 not out, Yash Rathod 39, Karun Nair 122 not out)

Result: Vidarbha won by 9 wickets