The group stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 came to an end on Thursday, 8 January, with a thrilling set of matches across venues, highlighted by several standout individual performances.
One of the most dramatic encounters was the Punjab vs Mumbai clash, where Mumbai suffered a heartbreaking one-run defeat. Despite the loss, Mumbai’s innings was lit up by Sarfaraz Khan, who smashed a sensational half-century in just 15 balls, the fastest fifty in elite List A cricket history. Sarfaraz is currently Mumbai’s highest run-scorer in the tournament, with 303 runs in six innings at an impressive average of 75.75 and a strike rate above 190.
Sarfaraz surpassed the previous record held by Baroda’s Atit Sheth, who had reached his fifty in 16 balls against Chhattisgarh during the 2020–21 season. Mumbai skipper Shreyas Iyer contributed 45 off 34 balls, while Suryakumar Yadav continued to struggle for form, scoring 15 off 12 deliveries.
In another standout performance, Ruturaj Gaikwad produced a sublime knock of 134 off 131 balls, rescuing Maharashtra from an early collapse. During the innings, Gaikwad became the fastest player in men’s List A cricket history to reach 5,000 career runs, achieving the milestone in just 95 innings.
Earlier in the day, Mayank Markande and Gurnoor Brar played a decisive role with the ball, picking up four wickets each to help Punjab seal the narrow victory.
Hardik Pandya, playing his second match of the tournament for Baroda, delivered an outstanding all-round performance, scoring 75 off 31 balls, including nine sixes, and also claiming three wickets.
For Madhya Pradesh, skipper Venkatesh Iyer starred with a rapid 65 off 33 balls against Karnataka, setting up a comfortable win.
Meanwhile, Vishvaraj Jadeja led the charge for Saurashtra with a composed 112 off 103 balls, helping his side post a massive 383 against Gujarat. Ravindra Jadeja added late fireworks with a half-century off just 39 balls, striking four fours and two sixes. It was his 19th List A fifty, further underlining his strong form ahead of his return to the Indian national team.
In the bowling department, Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini shared three wickets apiece as Delhi bowled out Haryana for a low total to register a dominant win.
Today’s Vijay Hazare Trophy Results
- Punjab vs Mumbai Punjab won by 1 run
- Madhya Pradesh vs Karnataka Madhya Pradesh won by 7 wickets
- Baroda vs Chandigarh Baroda won by 149 runs
- Saurashtra vs Gujarat Saurashtra won by 145 runs
- Delhi vs Haryana Delhi won by 9 wickets
- Tamil Nadu vs Kerala Tamil Nadu won by 77 runs
- Tripura vs Jharkhand Tripura won by 197 runs
- Andhra vs Services Andhra won by 5 wickets
- Himachal Pradesh vs Sikkim Himachal Pradesh won by 95 runs
- Uttar Pradesh vs Bengal Uttar Pradesh won
- Vidarbha vs Assam Vidarbha won
- Hyderabad vs Jammu & Kashmir Hyderabad won
- Chhattisgarh vs Uttarakhand Chhattisgarh won
- Odisha vs Railways Railways won
- Pondicherry vs Rajasthan Pondicherry won
- Goa vs Maharashtra Goa won