A century from Dinesh Karthik guided Tamil Nadu to their fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy title as they defeated Bengal by 37 runs in the final at the Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi on Monday.

Karthik came into the final in superb form, having previously notched up one hundred and four half-centuries during the previous rounds of the competition and he looked in fine touch once again.

It wasn’t all rosy for Tamil Nadu though as after electing to bat first, they found themselves in huge trouble at 49-4 at one stage. Karthik, along with Baba Indrajith, rebuilt the innings as the duo put on an 85-run partnership.

In the end, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 217 with Karthik scoring 112.

Mohammed Shami, who has been out of international cricket for a while due to injury, was the pick of the Bengal bowlers as he took four wickets. Ashok Dinda also impressed with bowling figures of 3/36.

In reply, Bengal lost their first two wickets with just four runs on the board. They never really recovered from that and were eventually bowled out for just 180, despite Sudip Chatterjee notching up a half-century.

Aswin Crist, M Mohammed, and Rahil Shah picked up two wickets each for the champions.

BRIEF SCORES

Tamil Nadu 217 all out, 47.2 overs [Karthik 112, Shami 4/26, Dinda 3/36] beat Bengal 180, 45.5 overs [Chatterjee 58, Crist 2/23, Mohammed 2/30, Shah 2/38] by 37 runs.