Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka and Saurashtra make it to semi-finals
What's the story
The quarter-finals of the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy kicked off on Monday, January 12, with Karnataka taking on Mumbai and Saurashtra clashing against an unbeaten Uttar Pradesh at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. Mumbai managed 254/8 in 50 overs. In response, Karnataka were 187/1 when bad light and rain stopped play. As per ESPNcricinfo, the par score at the time was 132, with Karnataka ahead by 55 runs (VJD method). On the other hand, UP managed 310/8 before Saurashtra were 238/3 in 40.1 overs when rain stopped play.
Match details
Karnataka's strategic win over Mumbai
Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal won the toss and opted to bowl first against Mumbai. The decision paid off as Vidyadhar Patil and Vyshak Vijaykumar put pressure on the Mumbai batters, reducing them to 57/3 and 60/4 in 17.2 overs. However, a partnership between Captain Siddhesh Lad and Shams Mulani helped Mumbai recover from their early wickets, taking them to a total of 254/8 in their allotted overs.
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Padikkal's stellar performance leads Karnataka to victory
Devdutt Padikkal once again proved his mettle with an unbeaten 81 off 95 balls, after Mayank fell cheaply for just 12 runs. He shared a mammoth second-wicket partnership of 143 runs with Karun Nair. The veteran scored an unbeaten 74 from 80 balls. This innings took Padikkal's season tally to a whopping 721 runs at an average of 103 (100s: 4, 50s: 2). He was also named Player of the Match for his outstanding performance.
Match details
Saurashtra's strategic win over Uttar Pradesh
In the other quarter-final, Saurashtra captain Harvik Desai won the toss and opted to bowl first against Rinku Singh's Uttar Pradesh. The decision proved fruitful as Chetan Sakariya and Prerak Mankad put UP on the back foot early in their innings, reducing them to 134/4. Despite a valiant effort from Abishek Goswami (88 off 82 balls) and Sameer Rizvi (unbeaten 88 off 77 balls), UP managed to post a total of 310/8 in their allotted overs.
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Harvik Desai's century guides Saurashtra to victory
In response, Saurashtra's chase was led by captain Desai who shared a 133-run partnership for the second wicket with Mankad after Vishvarjsinh Jadeja's early dismissal. Harvik remained unbeaten on 100 off 116 balls while Mankad scored a well-made 67 off 66 balls. Chirag Jani chipped in with an unbeaten cameo of 40 runs off just 31 balls. Saurashtra won the contest by 17 runs (VJD method).
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5th fifty-plus score for Desai in VHT 2025-26
Desai's 100* had two sixes and 8 fours. He has raced to 497 runs from 8 matches in VHT 2025-26. Desai averages 71, hitting his third century. He also owns two fifties.