Vishvaraj’s blitzkrieg leaves Punjab in a daze

 Vishvaraj Jadeja starred with his third century of the campaign (165 n.o., 127b, 18×4, 3×6) as Saurashtra hammered Punjab by nine wickets to enter the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy final, at the BCCI Centre of Excellence here on Friday.

In Sunday’s title-decider, Saurashtra will meet Vidarbha, which outplayed Karnataka by six wickets in Thursday’s first semifinal.

Saurashtra made quick work of the 292-run target, with Vishvaraj first combining for 172 glorious runs with captain and fellow opener Harvik Desai (64, 63b, 9×4) and then for 121 runs with Prerak Mankad (52 n.o., 49b, 7×4).

In a competition where high scores have been the norm, the sub-300 total Punjab put up was never going to be enough. And it proved so as Saurashtra galloped home with more than 10 overs to spare.

Vishvaraj largely scored square of the wicket, both in front and behind, with his punches and clips standing out. There were very few runs in the ‘V’, and all three of his sixes came in the arc between fine-leg and mid-wicket, as the 27-year-old displayed impeccable control. He was dropped on 120 at square-leg but by then the contest was all but over.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, Punjab’s top-order fired but hopes of a big score were extinguished by a middle-order failure and lower-order implosion.

The opening wicket association contributed 60 runs and the second wicket 109 as skipper Prabhsimran Singh (87, 89b, 9×4, 3×6) and Anmolpreet Singh (100, 105b, 9×4, 1×6) played first-rate knocks.

Prabhsimran was dropped early on by Prerak at point, and the 25-year-old right-hander capitalised to register his fifth half-century this edition. His non-chalant maximums, after walking down the track were especially eye-catching. For Anmolpreet, it was his second century, to go with four fifties earlier in the tournament.

But from 169 for one, Punjab was reduced to 200 for four, and from 275 for four, it was bowled out for 291. Chetan Sakariya (4/60) excised Anmolpreet in the 47th over, and then sent back batters No. 8, 9 and 10 to take the sting out of Punjab’s tail. Three hours later, that effort got the reward it deserved.

The scores: Punjab 291 in 50 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 87, Anmolpreet Singh 100, Ramandeep Singh 42, Chetan Sakariya 4/60) lost to Saurashtra 293/1 in 39.3 overs (Harvik Desai 64, Vishvaraj Jadeja 165 n.o., Prerak Mankad 52 n.o.); Toss: Saurashtra.

On Thursday: Karnataka 280 in 49.4 overs (Karun Nair 76, K.L. Shrijith 54, Darshan Nalkande 5/48) lost to Vidarbha 284/4 in 46.2 overs (Aman Mokhade 138, Dhruv Shorey 47, R. Samarth 76 n.o.); Toss: Karnataka.