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Karnataka, led by the in-form Mayank Agarwal, secured their place in the knockouts of the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy after a dominant group stage performance. Agarwal’s exceptional form continued as he slammed his fourth List A century in five innings, guiding Karnataka into the next phase alongside defending champions Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu. […]
Karnataka, led by the in-form Mayank Agarwal, secured their place in the knockouts of the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy after a dominant group stage performance. Agarwal’s exceptional form continued as he slammed his fourth List A century in five innings, guiding Karnataka into the next phase alongside defending champions Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu. These teams will now compete for the prestigious title in the tournament’s final stages.
Mumbai, the winners of the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, faced a disappointing exit from the Vijay Hazare Trophy after finishing third in Group C with five wins in seven games. Key losses to Karnataka and Punjab derailed their campaign, leaving them short of a knockout berth. However, they concluded their season on a high note, with teenage opener Aayush Mhatre shining bright. His unbeaten 148 anchored a successful 290-run chase against Saurashtra, offering a glimpse of the team’s potential despite their early exit.
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Teenager Aayush Mhatre emerged as Mumbai’s standout performer in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy, finishing as their leading run-scorer with 458 runs in seven innings, including two centuries and a half-century. Making his List A debut during the competition, Mhatre showcased remarkable maturity, capping off the campaign with an unbeaten 148 against Saurashtra. Captain Shreyas Iyer also contributed significantly with two centuries, including a blistering 55-ball 114 in a losing effort against Karnataka and a commanding 137 not out against Puducherry. Despite these efforts, Mumbai’s campaign ended prematurely, with the team finishing third in Group C.
Punjab, meanwhile, stormed into the knockouts with an array of stellar batting performances. They posted mammoth scores of 424 and 426 against Saurashtra and Hyderabad, respectively, and ended the group stage with a commanding 338-run total to defeat Puducherry by 167 runs. With six wins in seven matches, Punjab finished as the best second-ranked team across all groups, securing a direct quarter-final berth. Their campaign was led by wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh, who has been in sensational form, amassing three centuries, including an unbeaten 150 against Mumbai and scores of 125 and 137 against Saurashtra and Hyderabad.
The opening partnership of Prabhsimran and captain Abhishek Sharma has been a game-changer for Punjab. The duo set a joint second-highest opening stand in the tournament’s history with a 298-run partnership against Saurashtra. Abhishek scored a career-best 170 off just 96 balls, complementing Prabhsimran’s 125. On the bowling front, pace spearhead Arshdeep Singh has been outstanding, leading the wicket-takers’ chart with 17 wickets in six games at an economy of 5.53, including a match-winning 5 for 38 against Mumbai.
Elsewhere, Gujarat and Vidarbha emerged as the only unbeaten teams in the group stages, while Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Bengal advanced despite two losses each. Gujarat’s campaign has been propelled by the fast-bowling duo of Chintan Gaja and Arzan Nagwaswalla, who rank second and third on the wicket-takers’ chart. Vidarbha, on the other hand, rode on Karun Nair’s record-breaking run of form, with four centuries in five innings, earning him 542 runs. Nair’s unbeaten streak places him second on the run-scoring charts, just behind Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal, who leads with 613 runs, including four hundreds and a half-century.
Pre-quarterfinals: Haryana vs Bengal, Rajasthan vs Tamil Nadu (both on January 9)
Quarter-finals: Vidarbha vs Punjab, Karnataka vs Baroda (both on January 11); Gujarat vs winner of Haryana-Bengal, Maharashtra vs winner of Rajasthan-Tamil Nadu (both on January 12)
Semifinals: January 15 and 16.
Final: January 18
For the second time in as many days, Steven Smith fell heartbreakingly short of reaching the 10,000-run milestone in Test cricket. On Saturday, he edged to slip just five runs away from the landmark. Then, on Jane McGrath Day at the Pink Test in Sydney, with a crowd of nearly 40,000 watching, Smith was undone by a short-of-a-length delivery from Prasidh Krishna. Advancing down the pitch, Smith could only fend the ball into the gully, becoming just the second batter in history, after Mahela Jayawardene, to fall on 9999 runs.
Smith’s next opportunity to join the exclusive 10,000-run club will come later this month in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Once he crosses the threshold, Smith will become the 15th player and the fourth Australian—after Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting—to achieve the feat. Ahead of the Sydney Test, Border lauded Smith’s brilliance, placing him among the pantheon of the game’s greats. “Averaging 57 or so is in the top echelon ever,” Border remarked. “As far as Australia is concerned, we’ve had Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh. Smith ranks equally with that group.”
Smith’s career has been marked by remarkable consistency, and the 10,000-run milestone feels like a natural progression for a player often hailed as the best since Don Bradman. Smith was the fastest to reach 8000 Test runs and the second fastest to 9000. However, the final push to 10,000 has been prolonged by a relatively lean 2023-24 season, which included a brief experiment as an opener following David Warner’s retirement. While back-to-back centuries in Brisbane and Melbourne brought him to the brink, the elusive milestone now requires a further wait.
The upcoming tour of Sri Lanka offers Smith not just the chance to achieve his milestone but also to captain Australia in Pat Cummins’ anticipated absence for at least one Test due to the birth of his second child. For Smith, the tour provides an opportunity to solidify his legacy further, adding to his already glittering career as one of cricket’s all-time greats.
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