Vijay Hazare Trophy round-up: Harbhajan Singh stars with bat and ball to take Punjab into QF

Harbhajan Singh

Led by a captain’s performance from Harbhajan Singh, Punjab entered into the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare trophy after defeating Gujarat by 28 runs in Rajkot on Wednesday. The 34-year-old first starred with the bat, scoring a vital half-century off just 25 balls that included an incredible 6 sixes to help his side reach a score of 255 for 8 in their 50 overs. He seemed to have carried his batting confidence into his bowling, as well, as he picked up 2 wickets in his 10-over spell while giving away 51 runs.

Harbhajan, who has 413 wickets to his name in Test Cricket, hasn’t played for the country since March 2013 and will be looking to perform consistently in domestic cricket to keep alive any hopes of making a comeback.

Yuvraj’s struggles continue

If his all-round performance was a big positive for Punjab heading into the knock-out round, then the continued lack of runs from Yuvraj Singh’s bat seems to be the big cause of worry for them at the moment. The 32-year old once again failed to make a big contribution with the bat, scoring a mere 17 off 27 balls. He, however, did pick up 2 wickets in his four-over spell with the ball. None of the Gujarat batsmen could get going in their chase and despite tailender Rohit Dahiya’s 53, they were all out for 227. Yuvraj, who last played for India in the World T20 in Bangladesh in April this year, had earlier spoken about making a comeback to the Indian setup for the 2015 World Cup in Australia & New Zealand.

Elsewhere, Mumbai cruised their way into the quarter-finals after defeating Delhi by six wickets in Rajkot. After pulling out of the Deodhar Trophy, one would’ve hoped for Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag to put up a good show with the bat, but that didn't happen as the duo fell for 22 and 9, respectively. Had it not been for Milind Kumar’s 64, Delhi would’ve failed to reach their eventual total of 157 as well.

In reply, Mumbai, led by a 87-ball 83 from veteran Wasim Jaffer, reached the target in 30.3 overs and made their way into the knock-out round of the tournament.

Full Quarter-Final line-up

Match	Date	Teams	Venue
1st Quarter-final	November 20	Bengal vs Vidarbha	Rajkot
2nd Quarter-Final	November 20	Goa vs Odisha	Rajkot
3rd Quarter-Final	November 21	Karnataka vs Mumbai	Vadodara
4th Quarter-Final	November 21	Punjab vs Railways	Vadodara