Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023: Mayank Agarwal smashes 157 against Jammu and Kashmir to boost Karnataka to mammoth total

Image Source : TWITTER/SATYARTH91 Mayank Agarwal for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Karnataka kicked off their Vijaya Hazare Trophy 2023 campaign with a huge win over Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, November 23. The four-time champions proved their superiority with captain Mayak Agarwal emerging as a hero again at Sardar Patel Stadium B Ground in Ahmedabad.

The star top-order batter scored 157 runs off 133 balls as Karnataka posted a huge total of 402/2 while batting first. Then pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak took four wickets to bowl out the clueless Jammu and Kashmir side on just 180 runs to provide his team with a huge win by 222 runs.

Mayank last played international cricket in March 2022 in a Test match against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru and ODI in 2020. But the experienced opener continues to prove his worth in domestic cricket across formats and produced a stellar performance on Thursday to target a potential return to the national side.

The 32-year-old opening batter has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket and carries the form in the 50-over domestic cricket. Ravikumar Samarth also scored a century as he and Mayank added 267 runs for the opening wicket and then Devdutt Padikkal's unbeaten 71 runs off 35 balls boosted Karnataka to a huge total. Jammu and Kashmir's star pacer Umran Malik failed to make an impact as he leaked 8.50 runs per over without any success.

Jammu and Kashmir lost Qamran Iqbal on just 12 runs and never recovered under the pressure of the big chase. Yudhvir Singh top-scored with 64 runs off just 39 balls as Jammu and Kashmir's innings collapsed on 180 runs in 30.4 overs. Karnataka face Uttarakhand in their next match at the same venue on November 25 and Jammu and Kashmir clash against Chandigarh in the Group C match.