Maharashtra, Karnataka earn semi-final spot in ongoing Vijay Hazare 2025 season

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 11 (ANI): Maharashtra and Karnataka stormed into the semi-finals of the ongoing Vijay Hazare 2025 season on Saturday with centuries from Arshin Kulkarni and Devdutt Padikkal respectively.
In the first quarterfinal, Maharashtra faced Punjab at Vadodara's Kotambi Stadium, while Karnataka was against Baroda at Vadodara's Moti Bagh Stadium in the second.
In the Maharashtra-Punjab clash, Punjab won the toss and chose to field first. Maharashtra lost their skipper and star batter Ruturaj Gaikwad (5) and Siddhesh Veer (0) early, reducing them to 8/2.
From there, Kulkarni and Ankit Bawne (60 off 85 balls, with seven fours) put together a fine 145-run partnership for the third wicket. Kulkarni played a brilliant knock, scoring 107 off 137 balls, with 14 fours.
Down the order, a half-century from Nikhil Naik (52* off 29 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and Satyajeet Bachhav (20* off 15 balls, with a four and a six) propelled Maharashtra to 275/6, as they put up a 63-run stand for the seventh wicket.
Pacer Arshdeep Singh (3/56) was the top bowler for Punjab in his nine overs. Naman Dhir took two wickets, while Abhishek Sharma claimed one.
Chasing a total of 276 runs, Punjab were bowled out for 205 runs in the 45th over of their inning. The top scorers for the side in this match were Arsdeep Singh (49 runs off 39 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes each) and Anmolpreet Singh (48 runs from 77 balls, 3 fours and 1 six).
For Maharashtra, three wickets were snapped by Mukesh Choudhary, two wickets were grabbed by Pradeep Dadhe and one wicket each was bagged by Rajneesh Gurbani, Arshin Kulkarni, Satyajeet Bacchhav and Azim Kazi in their respective spells.
In the other match, Baroda won the toss and put Karnataka to bowl first. Mayank Agarwal's unstoppable run was ended by Lukman Meriwala (1/65) as he was dismissed for just six runs. However, Padikkal continued his purple patch in one-day cricket, putting on a 133 runs for the second wicket with Aneesh KV (52 in 64 balls, with four boundaries and a six). Padikkal scored his ninth List-A cricket century in just 30 innings. He also has 11 fifties in the format.
Other useful contributions down the order took the team to 281/8 in their 50 overs.
Raj Limbani (3/47) and Atit Sheth (3/41 in eight overs) were the top bowlers for Baroda.
In reply to Karnaka's total of 281 runs, Baroda were bowled out for 276 runs on the penultimate ball of the 50th over of the inning. For the Baroda side, important knocks were scored by Shashwat Rawat (104 runs off 126 balls, 9 fours and 1 six) and Atet Sheikh (56 runs from 59 balls with 7 fours and 1 six).
For Karnataka, two wickets each were taken by Vasuki Koushik (2/39 in 10 overs), Prasidh Krishna (2/60 in 10 overs), Abhilash Shetty (2/70 in 9.5 overs) and Shreyas Gopal (2/38 in 10 overs) in their respective spells. (ANI)