Devdutt Padikkal and Ravichandran Smaran produced a masterclass in tackling spinners on a tough pitch, as their fifties facilitated Karnataka's entry into the Vijay Hazare Trophy final with a five-wicket over Haryana in Vododara on Wednesday.
Karnataka's chase of a manageable 238 began on a shaky note, losing skipper and top run-getter Mayank Agarwal in the first over itself, as pacer Anshul Kamboj's low-slung delivery trapped him in front of the wicket.
But Devdutt (86, 113b, 8x4, 1x6) and Smaran (76, 94b, 3x4, 3x6) milked 128 runs for the third wicket as Karnataka overhauled the target in 47.2 overs, making 238 for five.
But a victory with nearly three overs to spare at times can offer the picture of a canter, but the four-time champions' march to the title clash with either Vidarbha or Maharastra was anything but that.
After Agarwal's dismissal, KV Aneesh (22, 47b) took 14 balls to get off the mark and never really came to terms with the deck's slow nature and variable bounce.
However, Devdutt and 21-year-old Smaran showed how to do that. Devdutt, fresh from his 102 against Baroda in the quarterfinals, paced his innings quite beautifully, taking the risk elements out of his game.
Most of his boundaries came through point or fine leg region, evidencing him playing late to counter spin.
But when the opportunity presented itself, the left-hander was happy to come down the track and thwack spinner Nishant Sindhu for a maximum over mid-wicket.
It was Devdutt's seventh hundred in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
At the other end, Smaran too started cautiously but opened up once his fifty was reached.
He hammered spinners Sindhu and Amit Rana for a six each to underline his growing comfort levels.
Devdutt fell to Sindhu in his effort to close out the chase while Smaran was castled by the off-spinner.
But by then Karnataka had reached just 13 runs away from victory.
Earlier, Karnataka bowlers led by left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty (4/34) kept Haryana on the back foot in the company of leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (2/36) and pacer Prasidh Krishna (2/40).
Himanshu Rana (44) and skipper Ankit Kumar (48) added 70 runs for the second wicket but no one really built on the platform.
It required a 39-run alliance from 10th wicket pair Anuj Thakral and Amit Rana for Haryana to reach a respectable 237 for nine.
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