As the Vijay Hazare Trophy enters the knockout phase, two quarter-final clashes are scheduled for today in Bengaluru, both to be played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
Punjab will face Madhya Pradesh at Ground 1, while Delhi take on Vidarbha at Ground 2, with four teams battling for a place in the semi-finals.
Madhya Pradesh come into the contest on the back of a confidence-boosting win over Karnataka in their final group-stage fixture. Led by IPL 2025-winning captain Rajat Patidar, the side will once again bank on the all-round brilliance of Venkatesh Iyer, who has been in top form throughout the tournament.
Punjab, meanwhile, enter the quarter-final with strong momentum of their own. The team will rely heavily on Prabhsimran Singh to provide a quick start, as Abhishek Sharma will miss the match to start his preparation for the India vs New Zealand T20I that is scheduled to start on 21 January.
In the second quarter-final, Delhi will be without skipper Rishabh Pant, who will not take the field. He was ruled out of the India vs. New Zealand first ODI due to a side strain injury.
Despite his absence, Delhi still boasts a strong batting core featuring Priyansh Arya, Nitish Rana, and Yash Dhull, giving them enough firepower to challenge Vidarbha. The team will be without Ayush Badoni, as he received his maiden international call-up for the ODI series against New Zealand after Washington Sunder was ruled out of the remaining two matches.
Vidarbha, on the other hand, will look to continue their impressive run in the competition, built around disciplined and clinical bowling performances that have consistently put opposition batters under pressure.
Vijay Hazare Trophy: Toss Update
Delhi skipper Ishant Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against Vidarbha.
Madhya Pradesh captain Venkatesh Iyer won the toss and opted to field first against Punjab.
Vijay Hazare Trophy Quarter-Finals: Playing XIs
Punjab vs. Madhya Pradesh
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 vs. Vidarbha
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