Dominant Punjab crush MP to enter VHT semis
An emphatic all-round performance by Punjab saw them decimate Madhya Pradesh by 183 runs to enter the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Having been put into bat, Prabhsimran Singh (88) and Harnoor Singh (51) had a 116-run opening stand. No. 3 batter Anmolpreet Singh then scored 70 as Punjab continued to build on the good platform set by the openers. Nehal Wadhera (56) and Ramandeep Singh (24) then finished off the innings as Punjab scored 101 runs in the last 10 overs of the innings, to finish on 345 for 6. Aryan Pandey was the standout bowler for MP with figures of 1 for 39 from his 10 overs quota.
With a staunch target ahead of them, MP lost Yash Dubey cheaply. Himanshu Mantri and Shubham Sharma steadied the innings but the former fell with the score on 45. From there, MP slipped from 45 for 1 to 83 for 6. This included the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer for a two-ball duck. Rajat Patidar (38) and Tripuresh Singh (31) top scored for MP but it was too tall an ask for MP. Sanvir Singh picked 3 for 31 while the trio of Gurnoor Brar, Krish Bhagat, and Ramandeep picked a brace as Punjab roared into the last-four. They will now face Saurashtra in the second-semi final on January 16.
Half-centuries from Yash Rathod (86) and Atharva Taide (62) played pivotal roles as Vidarbha comfortably overcame Delhi in the quarter-final. Despite losing opener Aman Mokhade early, Taide and Dhruv Shorey (49) put up a 90-run stand before the pair fell within three overs of each other. But Rathod held up one end and built mini partnerships with Ravikumar Samarth and Yash Kadam to steady the innings. Little cameos from the lower order took Vidarbha to 300 for 9, while the quartet of Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Prince Yadav and Nitish Rana picked up a brace each.
In reply, Delhi began decently well through openers Vaibhav Kandpal and Priyansh Arya. But after a 58-run stand, Arya and Nitish Rana fell to Nachiket Bhute off consecutive deliveries. It triggered a mini collapse as Delhi were suddenly 80 for 4 as Harsh Dubey picked two of his three wickets at this phase. Anuj Rawat scored a fighting half-century (66) and was given some company by Harsh Tyagi and Hrithik Shokeen. Rawat's dismissal led to another quick collapse as Delhi lost their last four wickets for only 10 runs as they were bundled out for 224. Bhute ended up with a four-fer in Vidarbha's 76-run victory.
Vidarbha's semi-finalist opponents will be Karnataka, whom they will play in the first semi-final on January 15. It will be a repeat of last year's final where Karnataka came out trumps, and they will also come up against Karun Nair who has now switched sides again.
