Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: Mokhade's commanding 138 propels Vidarbha to final

The first semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 witnessed Karnataka taking on Vidarbha at the BCCI CoE Ground 1 in Bengaluru on Thursday, January 15. The local team won the toss and elected to bat first in sunny conditions.

The Vidarbha pacers found considerable amount of help from the deck and the weather conditions early on and kept the Karnataka openers Devdutt Padikkal and captain Mayank Agarwal quiet. The latter scored a couple of occasional boundaries, but an incoming delivery from Nachiket Bhute found the right-hander trapped in front for 9(10).

Karun Nair joined Padikkal, but the latter who was the highest scorer of the competition at the time, was finding it difficult to get off the mark. It took the man in form 18 balls to score his first runs and unfortunately for him those were the only runs the left-hander was going to score today as he was out next ball for 4(19).

20-year-old right hander Dhruv Prabhakar joined Nair and the pair formed a crucial 54-run partnership before the former became Darshan Nalkande's first victim of the day. Karnataka were 74/3 in the 17th over at this stage.

Nair was now paired up with wicketkeeper-batter Krishnan Srijith. The partnership flourished with time as Karnataka now found themselves in a position to dominate. Both the batters went past their half centuries and the partnership was now worth more than a hundred. But, Vidarbha made a comeback through Nalkande again as Nair was dismissed for a well-made 76(90).

Srijith (54 off 53) followed his long-time batting partner back to the pavilion in the next over as the game hung in the balance (193/5). Shreyas Gopal (36 off 39) and Abhinav Manohar (26 off 33) provided a push in the last 10 overs but the rest of the lower order failed to contribute much. Karnataka ended up 280 all out in the last over as right-arm fast bowler Nalkande (5/48) starred with the ball.

Vidarbha started the chase steadily as the Karnataka bowlers too found assistance from the pitch early on. Left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty got Atharva Taide (6 off 14) edge one to the slips in the fourth over as Vidarbha were dealt an early blow. Dhruv Shorey joined Aman Mokhade in the middle as the duo negated the new ball threats with sensible batting.

The partnership started to grow at a steady pace and provided Vidarbha a sense of calm. Despite being 32/1 after 10 overs the batters did not panic. Shorey began to show intent and Vidarbha found the going easier with time. Just when the 33-year-old neared his half century Shetty struck again, breaking the 98-run partnership and sending back Shorey for 47(64).

At the other end, Aman Mokhade who is now the highest run-scorer in the tournament was joined by Ravikumar Samarth. The pair continued to score runs at a decent rate as Vidarbha started to dream. The going got comfortable and Mokhade made full use of it, achieving his fifth century of the competition. Vidarbha were in the driver's seat now with just 90 runs needed from 15 overs.

The pair continued in the same manner, taking the team closer and closer to victory. Mokhade, unfortunately, failed to last the distance as the 24-year-old right-hander was out for 138(122). Samarth kept his cool and combined with wicketkeeper-batter Rohit Binkar to take the team almost home. Though Binkar was out with just one run needed Vidarbha made it home with six wickets in hand and 22 balls remaining.

For Karnataka, Shetty was the standout bowler with figures of 3/48. Needless to say, Aman Mokhade was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his scintillating knock.

As a matter of fact, Vidarbha have reached the final of VHT for the second consecutive time.