Punjab 345-6 (Prabhsimran 88, Anmolpreet 70, Wadhera 56; Iyer 2-60) beat Madhya Pradesh 162 all out (Patidar 38; Sanvir 3-31, Gurnoor 2-27) by 183 runs
Punjab marched into the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals on the back of a commanding 183-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in Rajkot. They will face Saurashtra on 16 January.
The facts first
• Punjab’s 345 for 6 is their highest total in the knock-out stages this season.
• The margin – 183 runs – is their biggest while defending in the competition.
• MP collapsed to 66 for 5 inside 14 overs and never really recovered.
How it unfolded
Prabhsimran Singh (88) and Harnoor Singh (51) rattled along at close to a run-a-ball, putting on 116 for the first wicket. That stand removed any early nerves and allowed Anmolpreet Singh to cruise to 70 in the middle overs. By the time Nehal Wadhera’s brisk 56 off 38 balls and Ramandeep Singh’s unbeaten 24 off 15 arrived, the platform was rock solid – 300 was already in sight.
Madhya Pradesh needed something extraordinary up top. Instead, left-arm quick Gurnoor Brar clocked 140-plus kilometres per hour for most of his opening burst, jagging the ball both ways off a hard length. He removed both openers, and although Rajat Patidar resisted with 38, the chase never had a pulse.
“I thought we bowled proper Test-match lengths,” Sanvir Singh said on the official stream after claiming 3 for 31, including Shubham Sharma and Venkatesh Iyer in the same over. “Once we got early movement, it was about keeping the stumps in play.”
Key moment
Sanvir’s double strike – Shubham nicked one to slip, Iyer trapped in front two balls later – left MP reeling at 52 for 4. From there, Patidar was fighting a lone battle.
Fitness concern
Punjab’s only hiccup came when Gurnoor pulled up after 6.2 overs and hobbled off. The camp said it was “a minor niggle”, but they will wait on a scan before the semi-final.
Numbers that matter
25 of Gurnoor’s first 30 deliveries were above 140kph – easily the quickest spell of the match.
96 runs came in Punjab’s final ten overs, thanks largely to Wadhera and Ramandeep.
What next
The semi-final against Saurashtra, who bowl a heavy diet of slow left-arm and off-spin, poses a different challenge. Still, with their top order in form and Brar’s pace offering genuine penetration, Punjab will fancy going one step further.
Not flawless, but emphatic enough – and for now that’s more than good enough.
