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Saurashtra and Services emerged as winners in the final set of Quarterfinals played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 on December 22. Saurashtra defeated Vidarbha in the tournament’s third quarterfinal, while Services came out on top against Kerala in the fourth knock-out fixture.
Victories for the two teams set up their respective semi-final clashes. Services will now take on Himachal Pradesh and Saurashtra will face up against Tamil Nadu on December 24, with a place in the final on December 26 up for grabs.
On the day, in quarterfinal 3, Vidarabha’s poor batting display came back to haunt them as they were bundled out for just 150 in the first half before Saurashtra chased the paltry score down with seven wickets and more than 20 overs left in the innings.
Even to reach 150, Vidarbha required a fighting, lone-warrior hand from Apoorv Wankhede, who struck a counter attacking 72 off 69 balls. But to sum up a sorry-looking scorecard, only one other batter – skipper Faiz Fazal (23) – made it past the 20-run mark. Just when it mattered the most, Vidarbha’s batting collapsed like a pack of cards.
Captain Jaydev Undkat (2/25) led the way for Saurashtra with an inspiring opening burst. Chirag Jani (2/34), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (2/34) and Yuvraj Chudasama (2/15) also bagged two wickets each for their team.
In the second half, Saurashtra began precariously, losing as many as three early wickets to raise the hopes of Vidarbha. But then Prerak Mankad (77*) and Arpit Vasavada (41*) revived their side nicely and stitched 116 runs for the fourth wicket to take Saurashtra home.
Aditya Thakare (2/13) was the pick of the bowlers for Vidarbha but an insipid total on the board meant that their attack was always fighting a lost battle.
Brief scores
Vidarbha 150/10 in 40.3 overs (Wankhede 72; Unadkat 2/25, Jani 2/34) lost to Saurashtra 151/3 in 29.5 overs (Mankad 77*, Vasavada 41*; Thakare 2/13) by 7 wickets
In the next quarterfinal, Services proved too good for Kerala after winning a crucial toss and opting to bowl first with the white SG ball that does quite a bit in early winter mornings in India.
Services dismissed Kerala for a paltry 175 in the first half where only opening batter Rohan Kunnummal (85) and middle-order bat Vinoop Manoharan (41) could hold their own against some good bowling in challenging circumstances.
Diwesh Pathania was the stand-out bowler for them, taking three wickets in a fantastic eight-over spell (3/19). He was ably supported by the rest of the attack, including Abhishek Tiwari (2/33) and Pulkit Narang (2/51) who bagged two wickets apiece.
In the run-chase, with the track drying out and playing better for batting, Services began poorly but later coasted home with nearly 20 overs to spare in the contest. They lost two early wickets but once the moisture dried out and things got easier to bat on, opening batter Ravi Chauhan (95) and captain Rajat Paliwal (65*) took control of the proceedings and pushed their team past the semi-final door.
With not enough runs on the board, things were always going to be tough for Kerala bowlers. But Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan still impressed with a tight spell of six overs in which he picked up two wickets for 23 runs.
Brief scores
Kerala 175/10 in 40.4 overs (Kunnummal 85, Manoharan 41; Pathania 3/19) lost to Vidarbha 176/3 in 30.5 overs (Chauhan 95, Paliwal 65*; Manukrishnan 2/23) by 7 wickets
