Vijay Hazare Trophy, 4th Q/F: Axar Patel stars in a tense Gujarat win

In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Axar Patel held his nerves to guide Gujarat to a 2-wicket win over Vidarbha. The quarter-final was a tense low-scoring affair with both teams having their moments to seize the advantage. Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bat in this closely fought encounter played at the Alur Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru.

Openers Jitesh Sharma and Faiz Fazal gave their team a solid start by adding 96 before Fazal was dismissed after scoring 52 off 66 balls. This was in the 21st over and from this moment onwards the Gujarat bowlers dominated the innings. Sharma completed his half-century but soon perished with the score reading 111 in 24.3 overs. Two more wickets of skipper S Badrinath and Ravi Jangid put further pressure on Vidarbha.

The number 3 batsman, Ganesh Satish steadied the ship and took the score past 150. The 5th wicket, that of wicketkeeper batsman Akshay Wadkar started a procession of wickets as the team was bundled out for 195 in 48 overs. Satish scored a valuable 47 off 66 even as others around him failed to occupy the crease for a substantial duration of time. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled a brilliant spell of 4/38 for Gujarat while Axar Patel was equally impressive in his spell of 2/22. Off-spinner Rajul Bhatt, who gave his team a breakthrough with the wicket of Fazal, also bowled well finishing with 2/45.

Gujarat started in fine style with skipper Parthiv Patel looking in an ominous mood. He struck some elegant boundaries as his team raced past fifty inside the power-play. The other opener, Priyank Panchal was dismissed with the score on 53. The wicket of Bhargav Merai brought Chirag Gandhi to the crease and the right-hander settled in well. Parthiv completed his half-century but was soon dismissed for 57 off 58 which included 10 fours.

Ravikumar Thakur, Akshay Karneshwar and Akshay Wakhare bowled brilliantly to put the pressure right back on the opposition. The wicket of Gandhi, who made 31 off 56, put the game in the balance with the score being on 139/5. Two more wickets left Gujarat precariously placed on 149/7, and another wicket saw them slide to 162/8 in 41.2 overs.

Axar Patel though kept his calm and rotated the strike to good effect. The 20-year-old Hardik Patel showed exemplary composure in such a tense situation and defied the bowling as well as he could. The two took their team past the target with 11 balls to spare. Man of the match Axar remained unbeaten on 36 off 45 striking 3 fours while, Hardik made 15* off 27 with the help of one four. Gujarat will now face Tamil Nadu on Sunday while Delhi takes on Himachal on the same day which will decide the 2 finalists.

Brief Scores:

Vidarbha – 195/10 in 48 overs (F Fazal 52; J Bumrah 4/38)

Gujarat – 198/8 in 48.1 overs (P Patel 57; A Wakhare 3/30)

Man of the Match: Axar Patel (Gujrat)

Also check: Vijay Hazare 3rd Q/F Review: TN crawl past UP to register a semi-final berth