4 months ago
2
Vishvaraj Jadeja starred with his 3rd period of the run (165 n.o., 127b, 18x4, 3x6) arsenic Saurashtra hammered Punjab by 9 wickets to participate the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy final, astatine the BCCI Centre of Excellence present connected Friday.
In Sunday’s title-decider, Saurashtra volition conscionable Vidarbha, which outplayed Karnataka by six wickets successful Thursday’s archetypal semifinal.
Saurashtra made speedy enactment of the 292-run target, with Vishvaraj archetypal combining for 172 glorious runs with skipper and chap opener Harvik Desai (64, 63b, 9x4) and past for 121 runs with Prerak Mankad (52 n.o., 49b, 7x4).
In a contention wherever precocious scores person been the norm, the sub-300 full Punjab enactment up was ne'er going to beryllium enough. And it proved truthful arsenic Saurashtra galloped location with much than 10 overs to spare.
Vishvaraj mostly scored quadrate of the wicket, some successful beforehand and behind, with his punches and clips lasting out. There were precise fewer runs successful the ‘V’, and each 3 of his sixes came successful the arc betwixt fine-leg and mid-wicket, arsenic the 27-year-old displayed impeccable control. He was dropped connected 120 astatine square-leg but by past the contention was each but over.
Earlier, aft being asked to bat, Punjab’s top-order fired but hopes of a large people were extinguished by a middle-order nonaccomplishment and lower-order implosion.
The opening wicket relation contributed 60 runs and the 2nd wicket 109 arsenic skipper Prabhsimran Singh (87, 89b, 9x4, 3x6) and Anmolpreet Singh (100, 105b, 9x4, 1x6) played first-rate knocks.
Prabhsimran was dropped aboriginal connected by Prerak astatine point, and the 25-year-old right-hander capitalised to registry his 5th half-century this edition. His non-chalant maximums, aft walking down the way were particularly eye-catching. For Anmolpreet, it was his 2nd century, to spell with 4 fifties earlier successful the tournament.
But from 169 for one, Punjab was reduced to 200 for four, and from 275 for four, it was bowled retired for 291. Chetan Sakariya (4/60) excised Anmolpreet successful the 47th over, and past sent backmost batters No. 8, 9 and 10 to instrumentality the sting retired of Punjab’s tail. Three hours later, that effort got the reward it deserved.
The scores: Punjab 291 successful 50 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 87, Anmolpreet Singh 100, Ramandeep Singh 42, Chetan Sakariya 4/60) mislaid to Saurashtra 293/1 successful 39.3 overs (Harvik Desai 64, Vishvaraj Jadeja 165 n.o., Prerak Mankad 52 n.o.); Toss: Saurashtra.
On Thursday: Karnataka 280 successful 49.4 overs (Karun Nair 76, K.L. Shrijith 54, Darshan Nalkande 5/48) mislaid to Vidarbha 284/4 successful 46.2 overs (Aman Mokhade 138, Dhruv Shorey 47, R. Samarth 76 n.o.); Toss: Karnataka.
