Bengaluru: A fascinating battle of equals is on cards as a closely-matched Saurashtra and Vidarbha vie for their third and maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title respectively here at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds Sunday.
Unlike in the past, neither Saurashtra nor Vidarbha has any superstars in their line-up.
But their batters and bowlers have so far performed like a well-oiled machine in this edition of the tournament, helping them humble some more fancied teams en route to the final.
Saurashtra have been served well by the likes of skipper Harvik Desai, their top run-getter with 561 runs, and Vishvaraj Jadeja, who fashioned their semifinal win over Punjab with a blistering hundred.
On the other hand, Vidarbha’s batting has been propped up by Aman Mokhade, the tournament’s highest run accumulator with 781 runs, and Dhruv Shorey (515 runs).
Mokhade, an opener in the classic mould, has been quite impressive thus far, and his century in the semifinal against Karnataka here was a masterclass in innings building and nerveless construction of chase.
Ravikumar Samarth, too, has underlined his value with some useful contributions in the middle-order, aggregating 427 runs.
Nothing really separates these two teams in terms of batting, and bowling too offers a similar tale.
Pacers Ankur Panwar (21) and Chetan Sakariya (15) have kept Saurashtra’s new ball attack tight, and they have been effective at the death as well.
Vidarbha has relied on Nachiket Bhut (15) and Yash Thakur (15) in this tournament, and they will hope for an encore from the young pace duo in the final.
Darshan Nalkande (12) also provides Vidarbha with a reliable pace option in the middle and death overs. The way he dismantled Karnataka in the business end of the semifinals here was a testimony of skills and temperament.
However, toss will be a crucial factor in the final because of the dew that sets in towards the second innings, and whoever calls right will be eager to bowl first.
The chasing team has won four out of six knockout matches played across CoE 1 and 2 grounds here, and the trend looks set to continue, also reducing the role of spinners, particularly in the second innings.
However, Vidarbha’s young skipper and left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey’s ability to keep the batters under check might come in handy.
But beyond such calculations, both Vidarbha, the runners-up last year to Karnataka, and Saurashtra will have to calm their nerves to climb over the final hurdle.
Teams:
Vidarbha: Harsh Dubey (c), Yash Thakur (vc), Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Shivam Deshmukh (wk), Akshay Wadkar, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, R. Samarth, Parth Rekhade, Dipesh Parwani, Praful Hinge, Shubham Dubey, Ganesh Bhosle.
Saurashtra: Harvik Desai (wk/c), Vishvaraj Jadeja, Prerak Mankad, Sammar Gajjar, Chirag Jani, Ruchit Ahir, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Ankur Panwar, Prasanta Rana, Aditya Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Hetvik Kotak, Pranav Karia, Yuvraj Chudasama, Parth Bhut, Tarang Gohel, Jay Gohil, Ansh Gosai, Parswaraj Rana, Hiten Kanbi.
PTI
