Vijay Hazare Trophy: Four semifinalists for tournament confirmed

NEW DELHI: Defending champions Karnataka, Saurashtra, Punjab and Vidarbha have made it to the semifinals of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Karnataka secured its semifinal spot with a win via the VJD method over Mumbai, while Saurashtra secured a VJD win over Uttar Pradesh in their quarterfinal clash. Punjab beat Madhya Pradesh by 183 runs in a one-sided clash, while Vidarbha beat Delhi by 76 runs.

Karnataka had restricted Mumbai to 254/8, despite a fine knock by Shams Mulani (86 in 91 balls, with eight fours). Some rain interrupted the chase, and as per the VJD method, Karnataka was to hit at least 133 runs in order to qualify for the tournament.

Vidyadhar Patil (3/42) and Vidwath Kaverappa (2/43) had reduced Mumbai to a modest total. Devdutt Padikkal (81* in 95 balls, with 11 fours) and Karun Nair (74 in 80 balls, with 11 fours) took Karnataka to 187/1 in their 33 overs.

During Saurashtra’s win over UP, UP was put to bowl first against Saurashtra. Abhishek Goswami (88 in 82 balls, with 10 fours), Sameer Rizvi (88* in 77 balls, with 10 fours and two sixes) played big knocks, as UP posted 310/8 in 50 overs. Chetan Sakariya (3/54) and Prerak Mankad (2/47) were the picks of the bowlers for Saurashtra.

Skipper Harvik Desai (100* in 116 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) and Prerak Mankad (67 in 66 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) scored brilliantly for Saurashtra. They were to make 222 runs in their 40.1 overs at least and ended with 238/3 in these quota of overs.

In the third quarterfinal between Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, MP won the toss and elected to field first. Fifties from Prabhsimran Singh, the skipper (88 in 86 balls, with 10 fours and two sixes), Anmolpreet Singh (70 in 62 balls, with six fours and two sixes), Nehal Wadhera (56 in 38 balls, with six fours and a six) and Harnoor Singh (51 in 71 balls, with seven fours and a six) took Punjab to 345/6 in their 50 overs.

Venkatesh Iyer (2/60) and Tripuresh Singh (2/61) were the top bowlers for MP. MP’s chase was doomed right from the start as they were skittled out for 162 in 31.2 overs, with Sanvir Singh (3/31), Gurnoor Brar (2/27) and Krish Bhagat (2/28) being the top bowlers for Punjab.

In the final quarterfinal between Vidarbha and Delhi, Delhi elected to field first. Knocks from Yash Rathod (86 in 73 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) and Atharva Taide (62 in 72 balls, with eight fours) took Vidarbha to 300/9 in 50 overs, with Ishant Sharma, Prince Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Nitish Rana getting two wickets each.

Delhi’s chase also looked tough as they lost half their side for 123 runs. Anuj Rawat (66 in 98 balls, with seven fours) gave Delhi some hope, but Nachiketa Bhute (four wickets) and Harsh Dubey (three wickets) skittled out Delhi for 224 runs in 45.1 overs. (ANI)