Two of the favourites are out of contention in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025/26. Both Karnataka and Punjab lost their semi-final matches. Final will be played between Vidarbha and Saurashtra, two of the less fancied teams. This is a personal blow for Karun Nair, who dumped Vidarbha to move back to Karnataka this year. In the first semi-final, Karnataka lost to Vidarbha (Karun made 74 BTW). Vishvaraj Jadeja was the star in the second semi-final, and scored 165 not out from 127 balls. And this was against an attack that included Gurnoor Brar, Mayank Markande and Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa.
What a great inning Saurashtra played. Brilliant Saurashtra team. They bowled first and gave 291 runs target in 50 over. It was not bad total from opponent. Chetan Sakariya gave 60 run and took 4 wickets in 10 over with 6.00 run rate. He was prominent among other bowlers. On the other hand I think Punjab team did not play badly because the target of 291 was not bad. If they bowled with planning then they could win the match easily. They should take wickets.
In Saurashtra team Vishvaraj Jadeja batting performance was outstanding. He scored 165 run in 127 balls in which 18 four and 3 sixes were included. Jadeja built two partnerships with two players,firstly HM Desai which was 167 runs and the second with Mankad which was 121 runs. That's why they succeeded in winning the match because partnership work like a back bone in batting line.
