Former India cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not having a reserve day in the Vijay Hazare trophy after Punjab was denied a semi-final birth due to rain. Chasing a target of 175, Punjab had scored 52/2 in 13 overs when rain stopped the game. The play was subsequently abandoned and Tamil Nadu secured a place in semis as they had more wins in league phase than Punjab.
Punjab cricketer Mandeep Singh was the first to express his disappointment and he wrote on Twitter: “Played outstanding cricket in the league stage in a very tough A/B group and qualified for the knock outs brilliantly. Now we’re out of the tournament without even playing the quarter finals due to rain. #reallydisappointed #VijayHazareTrophy #punjabteam @BCCI.”
Mandeep was backed up by Harbhajan, who wrote: “Sick rule why not reserve day for these tournaments @BCCI must look into this and change it.”
Yuvraj also questioned the logic behind not having a reserve day and wrote on social media: “Again an unfortunate result for Punjab against TN in the Vijay Hazare tournament, again Punjab cruising and game abandoned due to bad weather, and on points, we don’t go to semis! Why don’t we have a reserve day? Or is it domestic tournament it doesn’t really matter? @BCCI.”
Punjab restricted Tamil Nadu to 174 for six in 39 overs when rain stopped play. Tamil Nadu had a shaky start after openers Murali Vijay (22) and Abhinav Mukund (17) failed to convert starts. But the in-form Baba Aparajith came up with a patient 76-ball 56 (2 fours, 2 sixes) to pull his side out of trouble. He lacked support as all-rounder Vijay Shankar (13) and skipper Dinesh Karthik (11) didn’t last long enough.
Thanks to Washingston Sundar’s unbeaten 35 off 39 balls, Tamil Nadu breached the 170-run mark. Punjab were 52 for two in 12.2 overs, having lost opener Abhishek Sharma (6) and Anmolpreet Singh (9) when rain stopped play. The game was eventually called off.
Tamil Nadu reached the semi-finals on the basis of more wins than Punjab in the league stage after their quarter-final game was cut short by rain. Tamil Nadu had won nine out of nine matches in Group C.