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Pandya in hot form, Nabi lights up; Jurel and Gaikwad tons stamp authority in VHT Round 7

Mayank

Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya and Ruturaj Gaikwad were among the key performers in VHT Round 7 [Source: 161_at_perth, KVS Giri, vsoneji24 /X.com]Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya and Ruturaj Gaikwad were among the key performers in VHT Round 7 [Source: 161_at_perth, KVS Giri, vsoneji24 /X.com]

The final group stage fixtures of the Vijay Hazare Trophy saw a lot of power-packed action, including multiple thrillers throughout the day, where Mumbai faltered against Punjab from a winning position, Jammu and Kashmir pulled off a win from the jaws of defeat and Maharashtra's narrow escape helped them finish on a high.

Several India stars were in action on the day as teams looked to seal their knockout berth, while the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Dhruv Jurel wanted to impress following their white-ball snubs in recent months. Hardik Pandya's final domestic appearance ahead of the T20 World Cup also ended with good spirits after his fiery fifty in Rajkot.

Here's a brief look at how things unravelled in Round 7.

Hardik and Jitesh end Baroda's campaign on a high note

While batting first against Chandigarh in Rajkot, Baroda lost both their openers cheaply, but Priyanshu Moliya and Vishnu Solanki stood tall with a quick-fire 80-run partnership before the latter was dismissed for 54 (49) while Moliya went on to score 113 (106), batting at the other end and witnessing carnage from Hardik Pandya and Jitesh Sharma.

Hardik came to bat at 123/4 and scored an explosive 75 (31) with two fours and 9 sixes, while Jitesh, who was out of form ahead of the game, got 73 (33) with 8 fours and four sixes and they finished with 391 on the board.

Chandigarh's Shivam Bhambri tried to give a fight with a 95-ball-100 but Hardik Pandya's 3/66 (10) and Mahesh Pithiya's 3/34 (6) helped them win by 149 runs.

Ruturaj scores another statement century after ODI snub

As Mumbai batted first against Goa and found themselves in a precarious situation at 2/3 in 1.2 overs, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad walked in and scored a 134*(131) with 8 fours and six sixes to take the team to 249/7 after 50 overs. He was assisted by Vicky Ostwal's 54(82) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar's 32*(19).

His efforts were backed up by his bowlers as Prashant Solanki took a crucial 4/56 in his 10 overs, alongside Hangargekar's 2/47 (10) as they clinched the thriller by only 5 runs. CSK star Ramakrishna Ghosh also bowled an incredible spell of 1/35 (10) in the win.

Auqib Nabi's all-round heroic stun Siraj's Hyderabad

Upon putting Hyderabad to bat first in Rajkot, Jammu and Kashmir were taken to cleaners by the openers, led by Rahul Gahlaut's 56(36) with 8 fours and two sixes and Aman Rao's 60(77). However, JKCA fought back in the middle overs with Abid Mushtaq's 2/50 (10), and Vanshaj Sharma's 1/29 (10) followed by Auqib Nabi's three quick wickets to end with 3/56 (10), as they restricted Hyderabad to 268/9.

While chasing the target, the North Indian side was down and out with 90/7 on the board in 22.5 overs. In the process, Mohammed Siraj got rid of both the openers and others cleaned up the middle-order. The stars with the ball, Nabi and Vanshaj, had different plans as they did not go down without a fight and put on a match-winning 182*(150) stand to take their team through the finish line against all odds.

Nabi scored 114*(82) with 10 fours and 7 sixes, while Vanshaj got 69*(78) with 7 fours and 3 sixes to win the match by 3 wickets. Siraj ended his spell with 2/45 (10) to his name.

Ramandeep, Markande and Brar take spotlight in a star-studded Mumbai-Punjab clash

Batting first in Jaipur against Mumbai, Punjab lost the top-3 batters cheaply, which included the wicket of captain Abhishek Sharma for 8 (10) and Prabhsimran Singh at 11 (9). However, the middle order of Anmolpreet Singh, Naman Dhir and Ramandeep Singh stitched two good partnerships and took the team from 25/3 to 150/5. Singh brothers added 85(99) for the fifth wicket.

While Ramandeep got 72 (74) with five fours and three sixes with the bat, Mayank Markande and Gurnoor Brar wreaked havoc with four wickets each in the second innings. The duo got rid of the explosive Mumbai top-6 despite everyone getting starts. Sarfaraz Khan also scored 30 off Abhishek's single over to get to 62(20) with 7 fours and five sixes.

Captain Shreyas Iyer fell five runs short of a fifty and Mumbai eventually lost the match by 1 run. Markande finished with 4/31 (5.2), including wickets of Sarfaraz and Iyer, while Brar got 4/57 (10), dismissing Musheer, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube. With this narrow win, Punjab qualify for the QF as the top-placed Elite C team, toppling Mumbai.

Jurel's century seals commanding win for UP

After asking Bengal to bat first in Rajkot, Uttar Pradesh restricted them to 269 runs in 45.1 overs, thanks to 3/33 (9) for Zeeshan Ansari. For the batting team, Sudip Gharami got 94 (106) and in form Shahbaz chipped in with 43. 

In response, UP lost the first wicket in the 2nd over before Aryan Juyal and Dhruv Jurel stitched a 132-run stand, where Juyal scored 56 (65) before getting out. Jurel continued his innings and reached 123 (96) with 9 fours and five sixes before his unfortunate run out when only 32 runs were needed. Captain Rinku Singh kept his calm and guided UP past the target with his 37* (26). Mohammed Shami got 1/53 (7), while Akash Deep got 1/27 (6). UP finished at the top of Elite B.

Other notable performances

  • Venkatesh Iyer vs Karnataka: 65* (33)
  • Ishant Sharma vs Haryana: 3/17 (7)
  • Harsh Dubey vs Assam: 1/16 (8)
  • Nitish Rana vs Haryana: 57 (39)
  • Atharva Taide vs Assam: 80 (88) & 1/15 (4)
  • Sridam Paul vs Jharkhand: 150 (134)
  • Sushant Mishra vs Tripura: 6/52 (10)
  • Shivang Kumar vs Karnataka: 5/45 (10)
  • Ravikumar Samarth vs Assam: 94* (76)
  • Karan Lamba vs Pondicherry: 108 (116)

Which teams have qualified for Vijay Hazare Trophy Quarter Finals?

At the end of the 7 rounds of group stage matches, played across four groups of eight teams each, the top two from each group have qualified for the knockouts. Below is the full list of qualified teams.

Elite A

  1.  Karnataka
  2. Madhya Pradesh

Elite B

  1.  Uttar Pradesh
  2. Vidarbha

Elite C

  1.  Punjab
  2. Mumbai

Elite D

  1.  Delhi
  2. Saurashtra