Vijay Hazare Trophy: Unfancied Smaran's ton overshadows Shorey's effort as Karnataka win fifth title
Vadodara: Dhruv Shorey's third consecutive hundred went in vain as Karnataka rode on unfancied Smaran Ravichandran's stylish ton to win their fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy title, defeating Vidarbha by 36 runs in a high-scoring final here on Saturday.
Karnataka has an unprecedented record of reaching five finals and winning all of them.
Left-handed Smaran smashed 101 off just 92 deliveries, while the unheralded keeper-batter Krishnan Srijith chipped in with a plucky 78 off 74 balls. T20 star Abhinav Manohar provided the final flourish with a blistering 79 off 42 deliveries, propelling the Karnataka to a commanding total of 348 for 6 in 50 overs
In reply, Vidarbha, which had reached the final without losing a single game in the group stage, paid the price for most of their batters outside the top three failing to get significant time at the crease.
However, all-rounder Harsh Dubey's explosive 63 off 30 balls, which included five sixes and as many fours, gave the winners a scare before Vidarbha were all out for 312 in 48.2 overs.
Shorey, who scored a century in both the quarter and semi-final, looked classy en route his 110 but there was no support at the end once 'Player of the Tournament' Karun Nair (27) had a rare failure as he got a sharp off-cutter from Prasidh Krishna which also seemed to keep a tad low knocking the off-stump back.
Karun, whose name came up for discussion during Indian team's selection meeting in Mumbai, finished the tournament with 779 runs and a whopping average of 389.5.
At the other end, Shorey, a former Delhi opener, looked regal as he drove and played some great horizontal bat shots on the flattest of surfaces. He added 56 with Nair and another 62 with the seasoned Jitesh Sharma (34) but the boundaries dried up during the middle overs.
Much of the credit should go to military medium pace bowler Vasuki Koushik (3/47 in 10 overs), who did well to bowl within his limitations, pitching it up and keeping everything in line of stumps. He hardly gave away loose deliveries and all those batters, who didn't have much game time unlike Shorey, Nair and Yash Rathod, struggled to keep up the momentum.
The other Karnataka bowlers, including Prasidh (3/84 in 10 overs) and left-arm Abhilash Shetty (3/58 in 9.2 overs), bowled numerous short deliveries, which Shorey easily dispatched by rocking back. He struck eight fours and two sixes, with the second six off Prasidh, hit down the ground, bringing up his hundred.
Once Shetty got him holed trying to pull, it was curtains for Vidarbha even as Dubey used the long handle to good effect towards the end.
Earlier, left-handed Smaran did well with his strong off-side play but it was Manohar, whose lusty hits including four sixes, took Karnataka to a match-winning total close to 350.
Smaran-Srijith added 140 off 122 balls and another century plus stand with Manohar where the latter was the dominant partner.
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Mule bank accounts frozen in crackdown on cyber fraudsters in Karnataka, 68 held
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka State Cyber Command has arrested 68 people as part of a statewide drive against mule bank accounts and “mule herders” involved in cyber fraud, officials said on Friday.
The special operations, which have been continuing since last week across Karnataka, targeted networks engaged in aggregating and selling mule bank accounts used for cyber crimes.
The arrests were made between December 2025 and February 2026, police said in an updated report.
“The Karnataka Cyber Command has conducted statewide special operations against Mule accounts and mule herders across Karnataka. The special drive has continued since last week and this is an updated report,” the department said in a statement.
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Police said the investigation identified a network of “mule herders” — individuals who aggregate and misuse mule bank accounts — who were retailing and selling such accounts to cyber criminals.
A total of 68 key accused and suspects have been arrested during the period.
According to the statement, mule herders had collected personal information and documents from unsuspecting laypersons and opened multiple bank accounts in the names of their relatives.
“These accounts were operated in a business-like manner,” it added.
As part of the crackdown, police registered 60 cases and identified 869 mule accounts across the state. As many as 8,788 complaints were registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) against the identified mule accounts.
The total money involved in all NCRP-linked crimes stood at Rs 85.05 crore, of which Rs 13.43 crore has been put on hold, the Cyber Command said.
During the drive, police obtained 32 search warrants and conducted 35 searches. In the searches, 35 ATM cards, 37 passbooks, 80 mobile phones, 28 cheque books and 22 SIM cards were seized, along with other incriminating materials, officials said. Pronab Mohanty, the Director General of Police (Karnataka State Cyber Command) supervised the special drive, police added.
