Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: The semifinals for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Prize 2022 are set, with four-time champions Karnataka readied to lock horns with Saurashtra while Assam face Maharashtra.
Karnataka will certainly be looking get the final and also tie with Tamil Nadu as one of the most successful team in the competition’s background with 5 titles. Saurashtra will be aiming to cross the last 2 hurdles to securing their first-ever title given that 2007-08. They finished as runners-up in 2017-18 edition of the event.
Assam has also set its sights on making the final and securing their first-ever title. Maharashtra are considering its first-ever final.
In the first quarterfinal, Abhishek Sharma’s 109 entered vain as Vidwath Kaverappa’s 4/40 and Ravikumar Samarth’s 71 aided Karnataka ferret out 236 as well as defeat Punjab by 4 wickets.
In the next quarter-final, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s superhuman knock of 220 * in 159 rounds powered Maharashtra to 330/5 versus Uttar Pradesh.
UP fell short in its chase as Rajvardhan Hangargekar’s 5/53 to packed them out for 272.
Jammu and Kashmir put up a valiant effort with the bat, with centuries from Shubham Khajuria (120) as well as Henan Nazir (124) taking them to 350/7 in 50 overs, however a young Riyan Parag wrecked an 174 off 116 balls to damage their hopes of a win.
He got sufficient assistance from Rishav Das, that struck an unbeaten 114 *. The duo sewed a 277-run stand for the 3rd wicket as Assam ferreted out the overall with seven arches as well as 23 balls in hand.
For Saurashtra, Harvik Desai (61 ), Arpit Vasavada (51) as well as Chirag Jani (52 *) were the heroes with the bat, helping them publish 293/8 in the quarter last.
Later, tight spells from Chirag Jani (3/53), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Parth Bhut (2 gates each) helped the side limit Tamil Nadu, the five-time champs, to 249, despite 74 from Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore and 53 from Baba Indrajith.
