Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh will face each other in the first semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on 11 March at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Both sides have good mix of young and experienced players, most of them in excellent form. This semi-final is expected to be a cracking contest.
Gujarat preview
Gujarat topped Elite Group A with 20 points to qualify for the knock-out phase. They won all their matches during the group stage, played at Surat. They began with a 3-wicket win against Chhattisgarh before thrashing Goa and Tripura by 8 wickets and 132 runs respectively. In the last two matches, they beat Hyderabad by 12 runs and Baroda by 40 runs. In the quarterfinal, they beat Hanuma Vihari’s Andhra by 117 runs.
Their key performers included young Het Patel, their leading run-scorer with 335 runs at 67. Het got his maiden List A century against Tripura, and has crossed fifty twice more in the tournament. Wicketkeeper Dhruv Raval, double-hatting as opener, has scored 281 runs. Like Het, he has also got his maiden List A hundred, in against Baroda. The third centurion for them is captain Priyank Panchal, in the quarter-final against Andhra.
With 19 wickets, Young Arzan Nagwaswalla currently has the joint-most wickets in this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy. He started with 6-54 against Chhattisgarh in the first match and has not looked back since. He went on take four more hundreds in the quarter-final. The experienced Piyush Chawla, who has already picked up 10 wickets, will now play against his old team.
Uttar Pradesh preview
Uttar Pradesh shocked Karnataka in their first match, by the VJD Method. They then lost to Kerala before beating Bihar, Railways, and Odisha to book their ticket for the last eight. They then beat Delhi in the quarter-final match following key performances from their youngsters.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar led them during the group stage, but his inclusion in the India white-ball squad against England meant that UP required a new captain. They entrusted 22-year-old Karan Sharma, who had made his List A debut in this edition, with the job. Karan responded with 83 against Delhi in a tricky situation in his first match as captain. Akshdeep Nath, Priyam Garg, and wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav are the top run-getters for UP with 261, 250, and 245 runs respectively. Garg and Upendra are the only two centurions for UP with the latter’s hundred coming against Delhi in the quarter-final.
Among bowlers, left-arm spinner Shivam Sharma is the leading wicket-taker of the edition, sharing the spot with Nagwaswalla. Shivam, too, made his List A debut this time, and has picked up 7-31 against Bihar and 6-22 against Odisha. In Bhuvneshwar’s absence, the pace-bowling responsibilities will be on young Shivam Mavi, Yash Dayal, and Aaqib Khan.
This semi-final should be a tight contest. Though Gujarat look a slightly more experienced unit, the youngsters from UP can make their mark and produce a surprise. Gujarat won their only Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2015-16, whereas Uttar Pradesh’s last win came in 2004-05.
Predicted XIs
Gujarat: Dhruv Raval, Priyank Panchal (c), Rahul Shah, Het Patel, Ripal Patel, Chirag Gandhi, Karan Patel, Piyush Chawla, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla, Hardik Patel
Uttar Pradesh: Abhishek Goswami, Madhav Kaushik, Karan Sharma (c), Priyam Garg, Akshdeep Nath, Upendra Yadav, Sameer Choudhary, Shivam Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Yash Dayal, Aaqib Khan.