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Visvaraj Jadeja’s unbeaten 165 puts Saurashtra in Vijay Hazare Trophy final

Samira Vishwas | January 17, 2026 10:24 AM CST

Two teams that have been consistently putting together performances in the red-ball circuit, will face off in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final. A day after Vidarbha booked their spot in the final, it was the turn of Saurashtra to do so. Like Vidarbha, they too made it in thumping fashion, overcoming a strong Punjab outfit by nine wickets in the semi-final with Vishvaraj Jadeja’s unbeaten 165 hogging the limelight at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence on Friday. The final is slotted for Sunday.

Batting first, Saurashtra attack did an excellent job to limit the high-flying Punjab to 291, which was definitely below par given the conditions have been batting friendly under lights.

And in reply, even before they took strike, Saurashtra had five runs added to their total after Punjab batsmen were penalised for running on the protected area of the pitch. That aside, Jadeja came up with a commanding display in his knock that came off just 127 ball which included 18 boundaries and three sixes. The game was done and dusted the moment Jadeja combined with Harvik Desai (64) to give Saurashtra a strong start as they clobbered 172 in just 23 overs. The start meant unless there was a huge collapse, there was no way back for Punjab. And Prerak Mankad (52 n.o), another in-form batsman, then forged another big stand with Jadeja to see Saurashtra home in just 39.3 overs. Once the platform was raised, Jadeja and Mankad didn’t break much sweat as they milked 121 runs for the unbroken second wicket.

It was not a breezy start all the way. It was the seventh over bowled by seamer Krish Bhagat did Jadeja and Desai began to take control scoring 23 runs. Once they got the momentum, they didn’t give an inch to Punjab with Jadeja using his power to good effect and getting to his fifty off just 29 deliveries before going to pace his innings perfectly combining caution and aggression. His third List A century came off 74 deliveries.

Earlier, Punjab threw away the start provided by the top-order. Skipper Prabhsimran Singh led the charge, putting on 60 for the first wicket with Harnoor Singh. And after Harnoon was dismissed, Anmolpreet Singh stepped up to stitch a 109-run stand as Punjab were laying a strong foundation for their power-packed batting line-up to build on. Though Prabhsimran departed after making 87, Anmolpreet went on make a century soon after Punjab lost their way in the middle. The dismissal of Naman Dhir and Nehal Wadhera off successive deliveries dented Punjab’s march as the acceleration they were looking for never arrived as they were bowled out off the last delivery of the innings.

Brief scores: Punjab 291 in 50 ovs (Anmolpreet Singh 100, Prabhsimran Singh 87; Chetan Sakariya 4/60, Ankush Panwar 2/54) lost to Saurashtra 293/1 in 39.3 ovs (Vishvaraj Jadeja 165 n.o, Harvik Desai 64, Prerak Mankad 52n.o).