Vijay Hazare Trophy Quarterfinals: Punjab vs MP, Delhi to Face Vidarbha in Bengaluru
Two knockout matches scheduled at the BCCI Centre of Excellence as four teams battle for semi-final spots.
Bengaluru, JAN 13 : The Vijay Hazare Trophy enters the knockout stage on Tuesday with two quarter-final matches lined up in Bengaluru, both to be played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
In the first quarter-final, Punjab will take on Madhya Pradesh at Ground 1, while Delhi face Vidarbha at Ground 2, with all four teams eyeing a place in the semi-finals.
Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh: Form and team news
Madhya Pradesh head into the quarter-final on the back of a confidence-boosting win over Karnataka in their final group-stage match. Led by Rajat Patidar, the IPL 2025-winning captain, MP will once again rely on the all-round brilliance of Venkatesh Iyer, who has been in excellent form throughout the tournament.
Punjab, meanwhile, come into the contest with strong momentum of their own. The team will look to Prabhsimran Singh for an aggressive start at the top of the order. However, Punjab will miss Abhishek Sharma, who has left the squad to begin preparations for the upcoming India vs New Zealand T20I series, starting January 21.
At the toss, Madhya Pradesh captain Venkatesh Iyer won and opted to field first against Punjab.
Delhi vs Vidarbha: Key absentees and strengths
In the second quarter-final, Delhi will be without captain Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out due to a side strain injury sustained ahead of the India vs New Zealand first ODI.
Despite Pant’s absence, Delhi still boast a solid batting lineup featuring Priyansh Arya, Nitish Rana, and Yash Dhull, providing enough firepower to challenge Vidarbha. Delhi will also miss Ayush Badoni, who has earned his maiden international call-up for the ODI series against New Zealand following Washington Sundar’s injury.
Vidarbha, on the other hand, will look to extend their impressive run in the competition, built around disciplined and consistent bowling performances that have regularly put opposition batters under pressure.
Delhi captain Ishant Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against Vidarbha.
Playing XIs
Punjab:
Prabhsimran Singh (w/c), Harnoor Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Ramandeep Singh, Sanvir Singh, Krish Bhagat, Sukhdeep Bajwa, Mayank Markande, Gurnoor Brar
Madhya Pradesh:
Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (w), Venkatesh Iyer (c), Rajat Patidar, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Tripuresh Singh, Shubham Sharma, Saransh Jain, Kumar Kartikeya, Aryan Pandey, Kuldeep Sen
Delhi:
Vaibhav Kandpal, Priyansh Arya, Nitish Rana, Anuj Rawat (w), Mayank Gusain, Tejasvi Dahiya, Harsh Tyagi, Hrithik Shokeen, Prince Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Ishant Sharma (c)
Vidarbha:
Atharva Taide, Aman Mokhade, Dhruv Shorey, Ravikumar Samarth, Yash Rathod, Rohit Binkar (w), Harsh Dubey (c), Yash Kadam, Nachiket Bhute, Yash Thakur, Praful Hinge
