Vishvaraj Jadeja's 165* sends Saurashtra into Vijay Hazare Trophy final

In a chase that bordered on the audacious from start to finish, Vishvaraj Jadeja alone slammed 165 not out - his third List A century of the competition - as Saurashtra chased down 292 against Punjab with nine wickets in hand on Friday night at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

The emphatic victory sets up a finale with Vidarbha on Sunday, with Saurashtra now eyeing their third Vijay Hazare title, and their first since the 2022-23 season.

The ferocity of Vishvaraj's onslaught was such that the match seemed all but decided long before dew took effect around the halfway mark of the second innings. By this time, Saurashtra had already wiped out 189.

Jadeja added 172 for the opening wicket with his captain, Harvik Desai, racing to his third List A hundred off just 73 balls. At the other end, Harvik played the perfect supporting role with a measured 64 off 63 deliveries - rarely needing to change gears, content to rotate the strike and watch the fireworks unfold from the non-striker's end.

After Harvik's dismissal, Prerak Mankad tucked himself to an unbeaten half-century as Saurashtra sauntered home with 63 balls to spare. Mankad's unbroken second-wicket stand of 121 with Vishvaraj came off just 99 deliveries.

All of Vishvaraj's three sixes came before he raised his half-century. Some of his strokes, particularly off the inexperienced Krish Bhagat, who went for 53 in six wicket-less overs, were breathtaking. He charged regularly at the fast bowlers early on to negate the late movement and kept flicking deliveries nonchalantly to the leg-side boundaries.

Incredibly, for the first four overs of their chase, there was little inkling of the savagery that would follow with Saurashtra hitting just 15 in this phase. Then, as if he'd decided to flick the switch, Vishvaraj took on Punjab's fastest bowler, Gurnoor Brar, and hit him two fours and a six, opening the floodgates from both ends.

That Punjab posted 292 was thanks largely to Anmolpreet Singh, who struck a defiant 100 to inject some middle-overs urgency. At the 40-over mark, Punjab would've fancied adding at least 100 to their 211 for 4, but kept playing big shots and losing wickets. Ramandeep Singh played a fine, little hand at the end.

Chetan Sakariya, the left-arm seamer, bounced back superbly in the death overs to finish with 4 for 60, while Jaydev Unadkat, playing his first game of the competition after being summoned from an extended break, conceded just 39 in his 10 overs. Unadkat, who offered excellent new-ball control, patrolled the middle overs to ensure Punjab didn't break free at any point.

Anmolpreet was helped along by his younger cousin, and Punjab captain Prabhsimran Singh, who laid the marker with a robust 87 up top. He should've been out for a duck, but for an early reprieve when Chirag Jani found himself 10 yards inside the ropes to catch a flick for which he should've been right on the rope.

His opening partner, Harnoor Singh, hit a flurry of boundaries after being 11 off 23 at one stage. He then became the first to fall as Jani redeemed himself with his athleticism to run him out with a direct hit at the striker's end on his follow-through. Prabhsimran and Anmolpreet batted risk-free for much of the middle phase, bringing up their century partnership off just 84 balls to set a strong platform.

But after Prabhsimran was dismissed for 87, attempted to hack Jani across the line, Saurashtra tightened the screws with seamer Ankur Panwar picking up two wickets in the 35th over. Naman Dhir was out to a nip-backer that he nicked to Harvik behind the stumps, while Nehal Wadhera was out lbw playing all around a length ball that skidded through.

It's at this point that Amolpreet decided to accelerate, and took just four deliveries to race through the 90s, and bring up three figures, before his dismissal once again led to a clutch of wickets in the end overs, denying Punjab the finishing kick they were after. That said, the form Vishwaraj was in, it's entirely possible even 330 may have not been enough on the night.