Yuzvendra Chahal celebrated his ODI recall for South Africa with a timely four-for to help Haryana enter the semi-final of the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy. They will play five-time winners Tamil Nadu, who beat the Ajinkya Rahane-led Mumbai by seven wickets. Karnataka made another semi-final, after beating Vidarbha by seven wickets, while Rajasthan were fuelled by Mahipal Lomror's maiden List-A hundred to put it past Kerala.
Haryana v Bengal
Yuvraj Singh v Mohammed Kaif. Shahbaz Ahmed up against his home state. Rohit Sharma, the wicketkeeper. Under-19 World Cup winners Ishan Porel and Himanshu Rana on opposite sides. There were a lot of subplots to this contest, and just like on paper, it was an engaging contest on the field too. Eventually, Chahal's four-for proved to be vital in Bengal being limited to 225 after being put in to bat.
Shahbaz, who walked in to bat at 70 for 3 in the 18th over, held the Bengal innings together, constructing a workman-like second List A hundred (100 off 118 balls) to lend respectability to the innings. Rahul Tewatia also chipped in with two wickets, including that of Shahbaz. In all, Haryana's spinners picked up 7 for 89.
In reply, opener Ankit Kumar hit his maiden List A century. His 126-run stand with Ashok Menaria, the captain, helped steady the innings after Kaif, younger brother of India pacer Mohammed Shami, and Shahbaz reduced Haryana to 14 for 2. Haryana briefly wobbled in the chase, but found a saviour in Tewatia, who steered them home from 179 for 5 with an unbeaten 21.
Mumbai v Tamil Nadu
Five-time champions Tamil Nadu comfortably put it past Mumbai with a dominating bowling effort spearheaded by mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and left-arm-spinner R Sai Kishore. They picked up six wickets between them to bowl out Mumbai for 227 in 48.3 overs.
Prasad Pawar, the wicketkeeper, top scored with 59, while Shivam Dube, who was recently part of the home T20Is against Australia, made 45. Rahane, the captain, managed just 1 to round off a disappointing tournament, where he managed a lone half-century. B Indrajith led Tamil Nadu's reply with unbeaten 103 from No. 3. His century stand with Vijay Shankar, who made 51 not out, helped them past the finish line with 40 balls to spare.
Karnataka v Vidarbha
With Vidwath Kaverappa away on an India A tour to South Africa, fellow seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak spearheaded Karnataka's attack with a four-for to skittle Vidarbha for 173. This included the wicket of Karun Nair, the former state mate now playing for Vidarbha, who managed just 5. Yash Thakur and Shubham Dubey did much of the heavy lifting in an otherwise disappointing batting performance.
Mayank Agarwal and R Samarth led a solid reply, putting on 82, before Vidarbha broke through. While Agarwal fell for 51, Samarth batted through to remain unbeaten 72. Having opened the tournament with a century against J&K and then going through a rough patch of low scores, it was a timely return to form for the 30-year-old opener as Karnataka won by seven wickets.
Rajasthan v Kerala
Rajasthan handed Kerala a thrashing to make their first-ever semi-final since 2006-07 (the tournament was called Ranji one-day Trophy then). They will be up against Haryana, who have made their first semi-final since 2010-11.
Having elected to bowl, seemingly to make use of the early morning conditions, Kerala seemed to have a grip over proceedings at 73 for 3 in the 20th over. Lomror, who came in at No. 3, kept the innings together. His 116-run stand with Kunal Singh Rathore, who made 66, set them up for a final flourish. They eventually finished with 267 for 8 as the lower order folded to fast bowler Basil Thampi.
Kerala openers Krishna Prasad and Rohan Kunnummaal managed just 7 and 11 respectively. They didn't have Sanju Samson, who will soon be with India's ODI squad in South Africa, but even so, the middle order wasn't short of firepower. However, whatever could go wrong did, with left-arm-seamer Aniket Choudhary slicing through the middle order to finish with 4 for 26 as Kerala were sent packing for 67.