Vidarbha Reaches Vijay Hazare Trophy Final After Beating Maharashtra

Vidarbha in Vijay Hazare Trophy Final:  The Vidarbha cricket team led by captain Karun Nair has entered the final round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-2025 season. Vidarbha defeated Maharashtra by 69 runs to reach the final. Vidarbha had given Maharashtra a mountain challenge of 381 runs for victory.

Vidarbha’s Explosive Batting Secures Final Spot

Maharashtra also put up a strong fight in chasing this challenge. But Maharashtra could only reach 311 runs after losing 7 wickets in 50 overs. The final match will be between Karnataka vs Vidarbha on January 18. Karnataka entered the final with a 5-wicket win over Haryana on 15 January.

The opening pair of Yash Rathore and Dhruv Shorey scored centuries for Vidarbha. Yash scored 116 and Dhruv scored 114 runs. Then Jitesh Sharma scored 51 runs in 33 balls. In the last few overs, Karun Nair played a brilliant knock.

Vidarbha added 92 runs in the last 5 overs. It would not be wrong to say that these runs were decisive in the match’s outcome. Vidarbha scored 380 runs for the loss of 3 wickets on the strength of explosive innings by these four.

Also Read: Karun Nair Shines in Vijay Hazare Trophy Semi-Final

Maharashtra’s Chase Falls Short

The Maharashtra batsmen also gave a tough fight while chasing the winning challenge. Except for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, all other batsmen reached double figures. Ruturaj scored 7 runs. But none of the other Maharashtra batsmen could survive till the end and make Maharashtra win.

Solapurkar Arshin Kulkarni played a fighting game from Maharashtra. Others also got off to a good start. But no one could make a big innings in front of the Vidarbha bowlers.

Arshin scored 90 runs off 101 balls with 1 six and 8 fours. Ankit Bavane scored 50 runs. Nikhil Naik contributed 49 runs. Siddesh Veer scored 30 runs. Azim Qazi 29 and Rahul Tripathi added 27 runs. Satyajit Bachhav and Mukesh Chaudhary returned unbeaten.

Satyajit scored 20 runs and Mukesh scored 2 runs. Maharashtra thus scored 311 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs. For Vidarbha, Darshan Nalkande and Nachiket Bhute took 3 wickets each. While Parth Rekhade got 1 wicket.

Both Teams Playing XI:

• Maharashtra: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Arshin Kulkarni, Siddesh Veer, Ankit Bavane, Rahul Tripathi, Azim Kazi, Nikhil Naik (wk), Satyajit Bachhav, Mukesh Chaudhary, Rajnish Gurbani, Pradeep Dadhe.
• Vidarbha: Karun Nair (c), Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathore, Apoorva Wankhade, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shubham Dubey, Harsh Dubey, Nachiket Bhute, Parth Rekhade, Yash Thakur, Darshan Nalkande.