Vishvaraj Jadeja ton powers Saurashtra to VHT final

Punjab were defeated by a stunning century from Vishvaraj Jadeja as Saurashtra advanced to the Vijay Hazare Trophy final on Friday (January 16). As Anmolpreet Singh's century and Prabhsimran Singh's 87 went unnoticed, Jadeja scored his second century in the last three games as Saurashtra chased down 292 without difficulty. Harnoor Pannu was run out against the flow of play, causing Punjab to suffer a slight setback after a strong start in the PowerPlay, where they were 55/0. Anmolpreet took some time to settle down, despite the fact that they didn't lose any more wickets for almost 20 overs after that. Only Prabhsimran was able to keep the Punjab scoreboard ticking for a brief time by scoring regular boundaries and scoring another fifty. After the halfway point, the swashbuckling opener started taking more risks and even cleared the ropes a few times with Anmolpreet content to rotate the strike. When Chirag Jani returned to the attack, the century stand came to an end. But now it was Anmolpreet's turn to accelerate, and he went on a boundary-pushing rampage. However, the batting team's inability to advance after losing Naman Dhir and Nehal Wadhera to successive deliveries proved to be a turning point in the contest. Anmolpreet and Ramandeep Singh worked together to score crucial boundaries in the slow overs before scoring a great 103-ball century to put Punjab in control. However, Chetan Sakariya broke through Punjab's lower order to score four wickets, resulting in a 20-run deficit for Punjab. In hindsight, an additional 20 to 25 runs might have put early pressure on the chasing team, but Jadeja's bat might not have mattered much. Saurashtra got off to a cautious start, scoring just 15 runs in the first four overs, but Jadeja faced Gurnoor Brar, and the openers tore Krish Bhagat apart for 23 runs in his first over. Punjab were put under a lot of pressure, losing by 92 runs as early as in the PowerPlay, despite the fact that Harvik Desai and Jadeja were almost at a tie for first place. Both batters reached their respective milestones, and the bowling changes did little to alleviate the misery. After just 20 overs, Punjab needed to do something special with the ball to get back into the game, as Saurashtra had already scored 151/0. Jadeja continued to have a good time and scored his century in just 74 balls, even though they lost Desai for 64 to break the huge opening stand. As Jadeja continued to play with the Punjab bowling attack, Prerak Mankad had the best seat in the house. At one point, Mankad joined in as the boundaries began to flow continuously. With victory now a foregone conclusion, Jadeja helped himself to a massive score of 165 off 127 balls and remained unbeaten. Mankad also reached fifty as Saurashtra won with 63 balls remaining.