Punjab and Mumbai played a thrilling Vijay Hazare Trophy match in Jaipur on Thursday, with Punjab winning by 1 run. Along with the result, the match will be remembered for Sarfaraz Khan’s record half-century. Mumbai won the toss and elected to bowl first. Punjab made 216 in 45.1 overs thanks to Ramandeep Singh’s 72 and Anmolpreet Singh’s 57.

Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan played another blistering innings in Vijay Hazare Trophy

For Mumbai, Mushir Khan took three wickets, Omkar Tarmale, Shivam Dube, and Shashank Attarde took two wickets each. Sairaj Patil took one wicket. Chasing a target of 217, Mumbai batted aggressively, but were bowled out for 215 in 26.2 overs. The 1-run defeat, despite 142 balls remaining, will be a long-cherished memory for Mumbai.

Coming in at number three for Mumbai, Sarfaraz Khan thoroughly entertained the crowd, scoring a half-century in just 15 balls. This is the fastest half-century in Vijay Hazare Trophy history. Sarfaraz smashed 30 runs in a single over of Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma. In this over, Sarfaraz hit three sixes and three fours. However, this record-breaking innings by Sarfaraz could not lead Mumbai to victory. The failure of the middle and lower-order batsmen was the main reason for Mumbai’s defeat.

Captain Shreyas Iyer scored 45 runs off 34 balls, but big names like Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube flopped, resulting in a defeat for Mumbai. For Punjab, Gurnur Brar and Mayank Markande took 4 wickets each, while Harpreet Brar and Harnoor Singh took 1 wicket each.

Meanwhile, in the match played between Baroda and Chandigarh in Rajkot, Hardik Pandya once again played a stormy innings. Coming in at number six for Baroda, Hardik smashed 75 runs off just 31 balls, hitting nine sixes and two fours. His innings helped Baroda reach 391 for all in 49.1 overs. Priyanshu Moliya also contributed with a 113-run knock.