Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20, Quarter-final 3: Punjab v Tamil Nadu – Preview, Prediction

Punjab and Tamil Nadu, who will face off in the third quarter-final of the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy, at KSCA Ground, Alur, have been more or less at par in the tournament. While Punjab were among three teams in the Composite Elite Group to finish on 20 points from 8 matches (behind only Karnataka, who have 28), Tamil Nadu have won all 9 of their matches in Elite Group C.

Thanks to their bowlers, several of Punjab’s wins have been big. Sandeep Sharma, for example, tore through neighbours Haryana (49 all out in 16 overs) with 7/18 and found support from Siddharth Kaul. Sandeep also had 4/24 against Maharashtra (65 in 27.2 overs). Defeats against Himachal Pradesh and Delhi could not halt their progress in the groups stage.

Not only have Tamil Nadu won all 9 matches: they have simply crushed their opposition every single time, including wins by 187 runs (against Tripura) and 211 runs (Madhya Pradesh). While chasing, too, all their winning margins have been by 7 wickets or more. They might not have played the big teams so far, but they have shown the difference in class between them and the others in their group.

Key players

Gurkeerat Mann (Punjab): The pitches at Vadodara were not quite conducive for batting, but Gurkeerat stood firm, leading Punjab’s runs charts despite often batting way down the order. His canny bowling has been a plus too.

Dinesh Karthik (Tamil Nadu): With a strike rate of 136, Karthik has been Tamil Nadu’s most dangerous batsman this season, bringing his quite efficient glovework and astute, experienced leadership to the fore at the same time.

Likely XIs

Punjab: Abhishek Sharma, Sanvir Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh (c), Sharad Lumba, Karan Kaila, Anmol Malhotra (wk), Gurkeerat Singh, Mayank Markande, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul.

Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, Washington Sundar, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Vijay Shankar, Baba Aparajith, Shahrukh Khan, M Ashwin, Mohammed Mohammed, Sai Kishore, T Natarajan.

Prediction

An even battle. Having handled better oppositions in the tournament, Punjab are probably slightly ahead.