Vijay Hazare Trophy: Karnataka v Chhattisgarh & Gujarat v Tamil Nadu for Spot in Finals

The battle to emerge victorious in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s domestic List A competition, is entering the last stages with the semi-finals set to take place at Bengaluru on Wednesday (October 23).

Karnataka will take on Chhattisgarh in the first semi-final whereas Gujarat will take on Tamil Nadu in the second semi-final.

Karnataka beat Puducherry by 8 wickets in the quarterfinal to make it through to this round whereas Gujarat got past Delhi in the quarterfinal, winning by 6 wickets.

There was, however, some controversy surrounding the progress of Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu as both teams’ matches were washed out.

They qualified thanks to a rule that stated that in the event of a washout in a knockout game, the team with more wins in the group stages would be declared winners.

The rule was criticised by players from Mumbai and Punjab, the two teams who got knocked out as a result of this rule.

It could come into play once again during the semi-finals with thunderstorms being predicted as part of the weather forecast in Bengaluru.

There are no clear favourites in either match. Karnataka possess a star-studded side but Chhattisgarh have been consistent performers so far this season.

Gujarat’s top-order – especially openers Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal – have been in fine form during the tournament but Tamil Nadu also possess a strong team and are being led by Dinesh Karthik, who is hungry to prove his white-ball credentials with the T20 World Cup looming.

Karthik has previously taken his side all the way in 2016-17, even topping the run-scoring charts and he would be keen to repeat the feat again.

Karnataka have won the trophy thrice before while Gujarat have won it only once in 2015-16.