Vidarbha to take on Mumbai to seal final's spot

This is Vidarbha's second appearance in the semi-final in this format of the tournament. Last year they lost to Karnataka. However, this season Vidarbha players would like to seal fina's berth under the captainship of Akshay Wadkar and new coach Sanjeev Sharma. The spotlight will be on medium pacer Yash Thakur who played an important role in Vidarbha's sensational one-run victory over Delhi previous day.

Known as a death-over specialist, young pacer Yash Thakur turned the game in Vidarbha's favour by taking two wickets in the last over. So far he is in fifth position among the highest wicket takers (15 in nine matches) . Last season in Vijay Hazare Trophy he hogged the limelight by emerging top wicket taker with 18 wickets in seven matches.

Although pace spearhead Umesh Yadav proved expensive in the quarters, he has an ability to change the complexion of game at any given time. Darshan Nalkande is another pacer who is in great form. Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate who so far has claimed 13 wickets in nine matches is also bowling well. Among the batters, Wadkar leading from the front has scored 256 runs in nine matches. R Sanjay, Atharva Taide, explosive duo Jitesh Sharma and Apoorv Wankhade have also delivered their best whenever required.

The team management would like to see collective efforts from the team in the crucial semi. Mumbai entered the semis defeating Saurashtra just by 2 wickets . Prithvi Shaw is the leading run-scorer of Mumbai scoring 287 runs in eight matches. Apart from the Mumbai youngster, Shivam Dube is another key player. It was 13-ball 25 that took the team to SMAT 2022 Semi-finals. Vidarbha would be hoping to stop these two powerful hitters.

Vid women to lock horns with Rlys

Vidarbha women will take on Railways in the semi-final of Senior Women T-20 Trophy to be played at M .Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Thursday from 9;30 onwards.

Riding on the superb unbeaten half-century by in-form Disha Kasat, Vidarbha women crushed Maharashtra by seven wickets to enter the semis. Disha who is the top run scorer so far in the tournament with 287 in seven matches would like to repeat her show in the crrucial semi-final. On the other hand the confidence of Railways women is also high. They entered the semis defeating Madhya Pradesh by ten wickets. In the second semi, Himachal will take on Bengal from 1.30 p.m onwards at the same venue.