Defending champion Mumbai sneaked into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals, pipping Uttar Pradesh (UP) on net run-rate. The two sides, both of whom had suffered two washouts, were tied on 20 points but UP had the edge with a match in hand. It however couldn't capitalise, losing its final fixture on Thursday against Haryana by 20 runs to fall behind Mumbai.
The NRR was the tie-breaker since the two teams had the same number of wins but were placed in different groups. In the event of them being part of the same group, head-to-head would have taken precedence. This is how Delhi finished second ahead of Punjab, despite having the same number of wins and an inferior NRR.
Vijay Hazare Trophy follows a format where the top-five from a combined Elite Group A & B table qualify for the quarterfinals. Of the five, three are from Group A (Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Mumbai). Punjab and Delhi have emerged from Group B but persistent rain washed out many a match in Vadodara (some were rescheduled later) and rendered the conditions tricky in those contests that went ahead.
It prompted veteran Wasim Jaffer to even tweet thus: “Absolutely unfit pitches to play in List 'A' matches in Vadodra.@BCCI #motibaug #barodacricketassociation”
From Group C, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat were the top-two qualifiers, with Pondicherry rounding off the line-up by coming through from the Plate group.
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