Vidarbha to take on Rajasthan
   Date :12-Jan-2025

Vidarbha 
VADODARA
 
A CONFIDENT Vidarbha, having won all their league games, will take on Rajasthan in Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-finals here on Sunday. With six wins from as many games, Vidarbha, led by Karun Nair, who is in cracking form, topped Group D with 24 points. In his last ten matches, Nair has amassed 684 runs at an average of 171. Another pro, opener Dhruv Shorey has scored 421 runs in his last eight matches at 52.63. Both of them got good support from other top order batters including —Yash Rathod, Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide and Apoorv Wankhade, who was promoted to open in the last game. Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey and IPL player Darshan Nalkande have been their best bowlers this season who have provided them timely breaks to put brakes on rival batters. Going into the quarters, Vidarbha hold edge with the kind of form the team has exhibited. This is Vidarbha’s sixth quarter-final appearance in the last ten years. They have made it to the semi-finals on two occasions way back in 2007-08 and 2010-11 seasons. They would love to go all the way to lift their maiden crown this time.
 
The first hurdle is Rajasthan. The team from western part of the nation made it to the last-eight by winning their pre-quarters after failing to end among top two in the group. In their last game, they defeated might Tamil Nadu for first time ever in the competition. Opener Abjhijeet Tomar scored a well-paced hundred and shared an important 160-run stand with skipper Mahipal Lomror (60 off 49) for the second wicket to set the platform for Rajasthan’s win. Kartik Sharma has also been among runs from them. On the bowling front, Aniket Choudhary and Kukna Ajay Singh have been their best performers. Maharashtra enter semis FOUR-TIME champions Karnataka held their nerves to edge out hosts Baroda by five runs, while Maharashtra outplayed Punjab by 70 runs to enter Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals here on Saturday.
 
Teenager Arshin Kulkarni struck a composed maiden List A century, while wicketkeeper-batter Nitin Naik hit an explosive unbeaten fifty to power Maharashtra to a handsome win over Punjab at Kotambi Stadium. Kulkarni made a 137-ball 107 in a century-plus partnership with Ankit Bawne (60; 85 balls) before Naik’s belligerent knock of 52 not out (29b) at No 7 lifted them to 275-6. Padikkal, Prasidh seal Karnataka’s thrilling win Opener Devdutt Padikkal marked his return to domestic cricket with a scintillating century before Prasidh Krishna’s game-changing spell in the death overs propelled Karnataka to a thrilling win over Baroda. Opting to bowl, Baroda, led by Krunal Pandya, faced an in-form Padikkal, who anchored the Karnataka innings with a superb 102 off 99 balls. Supported by KV Aneesh’s solid 52 off 64 balls, Karnataka posted a challenging total of 281-8 in their 50 overs. Brief scores Maharashtra 275-6; 50 overs (Arshin Kulkarni 107, Ankit Bawne 60, Nikhil Naik 52 not out; Arshdeep Singh 3-56, Naman Dhir 2-29) b Punjab 205; 44.4 overs (Arshdeep 49, Anmolpreet Singh 48; Mukesh Choudhary 3-44, Pradeep Dadhe 2-31) by 70 runs. Karnataka 281-8; 50 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 102, KV Aneesh 52; Atit Sheth 3-41, Raj Limbani 3-47) bt Baroda 276; 49.5 overs (Shashwat Rawat 104, Atit Sheth 56; Vasuki Koushik 2-39, Prasidh Krishna 2-60, Abhilash Shetty 2-70, Shreyas Gopal 2-38) by five runs.