A stunning century from Vishvaraj Jadeja squashed Punjab as Saurashtra waltzed their way to the Vijay Hazare Trophy final on Friday (January 16). Bringing up his second ton in the last three games, Jadeja bludgeoned the Punjab attack in ruthless fashion to help Saurashtra chase down 292 with ease as Anmolpreet Singh's century and Prabhsimran Singh's 87 went in vain.

After making a positive start in the PowerPlay where they raced to 55/0, Punjab suffered a slight setback when Harnoor Pannu got run out against the run of play. While they didn't lose any more wickets for almost 20 overs after that, Anmolpreet took some time to settle down. For a brief moment, only Prabhsimran kept the Punjab scorecard ticking with regular boundaries to bring up another half-century.

The swashbuckling opener then started taking more risks beyond the halfway point, even clearing the ropes on a couple of occasions with Anmolpreet content on rotating the strike. The century stand finally came to an end when Chirag Jani came back into the attack. However, it was now Anmolpreet's turn to press on the accelerator as he went on a boundary-hitting spree. But losing Naman Dhir and Nehal Wadhera off successive deliveries proved to be a decisive moment in the contest for the batting side as it hampered their progress.

Joining forces with Ramandeep Singh, Anmolpreet added crucial boundaries in the slog overs before bringing up an excellent 103-ball century to put Punjab in command. However, Punjab easily fell short by 20 runs in the end after Chetan Sakariya ran through the lower order to finish with a four-wicket haul. While in hindsight, 20-25 more runs could have put early pressure on the chasing side, it might not have mattered much given how Jadeja batted. Starting cautiously, scoring just 15 from the first four overs, Saurashtra received a boost when Jadeja took on Gurnoor Brar before the openers ripped apart Krish Bhagat for 23 runs in his opening over.

With Harvik Desai also almost going toe-to-toe with Jadeja, Punjab were put under severe pressure as 92 runs got knocked off as early as in the PowerPlay. More misery was in store as both batters went past their respective milestones and the bowling changes hardly making a difference. With Saurashtra racing to 151/0 after just 20 overs, Punjab needed something special with the ball to storm back into the contest. While they eventually broke the massive opening stand with the wicket of Desai for 64, Jadeja continued to make merry and brought up his century off just 74 balls.

Prerak Mankad had the best seat in the house as Jadeja kept toying with the Punjab bowling attack. Mankad also joined in the fray at one stage as the boundaries just started to flow non stop. With victory now a foregone conclusion, Jadeja helped himself to a massive score and finished unbeaten on 165 off just 127 balls whereas Mankad also went past fifty as Saurashtra got the job done with 63 balls to spare.

Brief scores: Punjab 291 in 50 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 100, Prabhsimran Singh 87; Chetan Sakariya 4/60) lost to Saurashtra 293/1 in 39.3 overs (Vishvaraj Jadeja 165*, Harvik Desai 64, Prerak Mankad 52*) by 9 wickets