Vijay Hazare Trophy Final: Saurashtra, Vidarbha face off in battle of consistent forces

Two of the most consistent sides in Indian domestic cricket in recent times, Saurashtra and Vidarbha, will meet in the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy final at the BCCI Centre of Excellence near here on Sunday.

In the last decade, Saurashtra has won the Ranji Trophy twice and been a runner-up as many times. Vidarbha has won thrice, including 2024-25, and been a worthy finalist once.

Saurashtra clinched the 2022-23 Vijay Hazare title and came second in 2017-18, while Vidarbha has now reached consecutive finals and will be aiming for its maiden crown.

Though both have past history of patronising cricket, Saurashtra and Vidarbha are provinces within the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively, and work with a not-so-large pool of cricketers.

Resources are split between the Gujarat, Saurashtra and Baroda teams, and the same is the case with Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Mumbai. In such a scenario, the way Saurashtra and Vidarbha have continuously replenished their sides, stocked them with match-winners and achieved what they have is immensely creditable.

On Sunday, this great tradition will continue, with the likes of Vishvaraj Jadeja and Chetan Sakariya (both Saurashtra), and Aman Mokhade and Darshan Nalkande (both Vidarbha) looking to repeat their semifinal exploits.

There is little to separate the two outfits, for both Saurashtra and Vidarbha come into the contest having notched up thumping wins over Punjab (nine wickets) and Karnataka (six wickets) respectively.

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Mokhade is this edition’s leading scorer with 781 runs while Saurashtra’s Ankur Panwar is third on the list of highest-wicket takers with 21 scalps (average: 22.28 and econ rate: 5.78.)

The latter’s record is especially noteworthy, for this has been a tournament where batters have put up giant first-innings totals or chased big scores with ease. In fact, both semifinals saw the team batting second win without breaking much sweat, though dew seemingly made willow work a tad easier under lights.

Focus will also be on Vidarbha leader Harsh Dubey, who can bowl handy left-arm spin and is slowly blossoming into a capable all-rounder, and Saurashtra skipper Harvik Desai, whose 561 runs is the third-highest in this season’s competition.

Both Dubey and Desai are early in their captaincy tenures. A title can skyrocket their careers.

Published on Jan 17, 2026