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. Nehal Wadhera (56) and Ramandeep Singh (24) finished strongly, with Punjab scoring 101 runs in the last 10 overs to finish on 345 for 6. Aryan Pandey was the standout bowler for MP with figures of 1 for 39 from his 10 overs.

Chasing a stiff target, 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, including the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer for a two-ball duck. Rajat Patidar (38) and Tripuresh Singh (31) top scored, but the chase was too steep. Sanvir Singh picked 3 for 31, while Gurnoor Brar, Krish Bhagat, and Ramandeep Singh each took two wickets as Punjab roared into the last-four.

Punjab 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 falling within three overs of each other. Rathod held firm, building partnerships with Ravikumar Samarth and Yash Kadam to steady the innings. Lower-order contributions took Vidarbha to 300 for 9. For Delhi, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Prince Yadav, and Nitish Rana each took two wickets.

In reply, Delhi began decently through openers Vaibhav Kandpal and Priyansh Arya. After a 58-run stand, Arya and Nitish Rana fell to Nachiket Bhute off consecutive deliveries, triggering a collapse to 80 for 4. Harsh Dubey claimed two of his three wickets in this phase. Anuj Rawat scored a fighting 66, supported by Harsh Tyagi and Hrithik Shokeen, but his dismissal led to another collapse. Delhi lost their last four wickets for 10 runs, bowled out for 224. Bhute finished with a four-wicket haul in Vidarbha's 76-run victory.

Vidarbha will face Karnataka in the first semi-final on January 15—a repeat of last year's final, which Karnataka won. They will also come up against Karun Nair, who has now switched sides.