Vijay Hazare Trophy Round 3 Highlights: Delhi, Karnataka, Mumbai Notch Up Hat-Trick Of Wins; Jurel Hits Daddy Ton

Good morning, cricket fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the Vijay Hazare Trophy Round 3. We have 19 games on offer today – 16 Elite matches, and three Plate division games. Stay tuned for toss and pre-match updates.

Elite Group A:

Elite Group B:

Elite Group C:

Elite Group D:

Plate Group:

Two matches – Kerala vs Madhya Pradesh and Bengal vs Chandigarh – will be live-streamed on the JioHotstar app and website. The KER vs MP match will also be televised live on the Star Sports Khel channel. The remaining 17 Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-2 Round 3 games will not be streamed/televised anywhere.

• Himachal Pradesh vs Maharashtra: MAH opt to bowl

• Punjab vs Uttarakhand: UTK opt to bowl

• Chhattisgarh vs Mumbai: MUM opt to bowl

• Saurashtra vs Delhi: DEL opt to bowl

• Railways vs Services: SER opt to bowl

• Andhra vs Odisha: ODSA opt to bowl

• Gujarat vs Haryana: GUJ opt to bowl

• Goa vs Sikkim: SKM opt to bowl

• Chandigarh vs Bengal: BEN opt to bowl

• Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu: KAR opt to bowl

• Tripura vs Rajasthan: TRI opt to bat

• Jharkhand vs Puducherry: PDC opt to bowl

• Kerala vs Madhya Pradesh: KER opt to bowl

• Jammu and Kashmir vs Vidarbha: VID opt to bowl

• Uttar Pradesh vs Baroda: BRD opt to bowl

• Assam vs Hyderabad: HYD opt to bat

We are not even into the fourth over, and Mumbai's Shardul Thakur has rocked the Chhattisgarh top order by taking three crucial wickets. Sanjeet Desai and captain Amandeep Khare are trying to rebuild the innings at 10/3 in 3.4 overs.

The sixth over is done, and Jharkhand have lost two wickets for 32 runs. Parth Vagani with both scalps for Puducherry, dismissing the dangerous-looking Mohan for 12 and then sending Virat Singh back for a duck.

What a day this is turning out to be for the bowlers, as Ramakrishna Ghosh rips through the Himachal top order with three wickets in as many overs. Ekant Sen's scalp has been the most crucial one among them. Pukhraj and Amanpreet are at the crease, batting at 34/3.

Punjab's fiery start is halted a bit as both their openers have now returned to the dugout. Prabhsimran was the first one to lose his wicket at 28 off 23. Then, skipper Abhishek Sharma, after a powerful knock of 30, which included five boundaries and one six, is caught by Negi. However, the pair have given Punjab a good start, who finished the first powerplay at 62/2.

Drinks break, with Goa batting at 59/3 with one delivery left in the 15th over. Palzor has swung the innings in favour of Sikkim, following up his wicket of Bakle by dismissing Tejrana with an accurate run out. Prabhudessai is on the pitch for Goa, and he will be joined by Arjun Tendulkar.

We are in the 21st over, and Uttar Pradesh's good start, given by a good half-century from opener Abhishek Goswami (51 off 51) has been halted by three wickets from Limbani. After cleaning Goswami, he dismisses Juyal and Garg, with UP batting at 103/3.

Just two balls into the 22nd over, and Madhya Pradesh have lost their fifth wicket. It's a big one as well – skipper Venkatesh Iyer – who is run out after a moment of confusion with strike partner Mantri. Saransh Jain is the new batter as MP rebuild from 80/5.

It has been a brilliant fourth wicket partnership between Dhruv Jurel and Rinku Singh, with the former reaching his half century and currently batting at 61 off 52 balls. Rinku is batting slightly more cautiously at 39 off 45, with Uttar Pradesh reaching 182/3 just before the 32nd over.

A brilliant bowling performance from Mumbai as Chhattisgarh are bowled out for just 142. Captain Amandeep Khare fought with a 63-run knock, and Ajay Mandal added 46 more. However, Mumbai's bowling was defined by two brilliant performances.

The first was a quickfire four-wicket spell from Shardul Thakur, who finished with figures of 4/13, ravaging the top order. Then, spinner Shams Mulani had a fifer, cleaning up the lower batters.

What a knock this has been from Dhruv Jurel, who is batting at 117 off just 83 balls. His century innings contains 11 boundaries and five sixes, batting at a strike rate of over 140. He has been aided by captain Rinku Singh before he departed for 63 off 67. Jurel and Prasanth Veer (19 off 13) are at crease as UP reach 299/5 in 45 overs.

Meanwhile, another brilliant century in the Delhi vs Saurashtra match as Vishvarajsinh Jadeja is batting at 113 off 100 balls. This knock contains 13 boundaries and one six. He is batting alongside Ruchit Ahir (35 off 37) as Saurashtra reach 245/5 in 41 overs.

Elite Group Matches:

• Himachal Pradesh 271/10 vs Maharashtra

• Punjab 269/8 vs Uttarakhand

• Chhattisgarh 142/10 vs Mumbai

• Saurashtra 320/7 vs Delhi

• Railways 365/7 vs Services

• Andhra 221/10 vs Odisha

• Haryana 299/10 vs Gujarat

• Goa 309/8 vs Sikkim

• Chandigarh 319/10 vs Bengal

• Tamil Nadu 288/10 vs Karnataka

• Tripura 286/10 vs Rajasthan

• Jharkhand 368/7 vs Puducherry

• Madhya Pradesh 214/10 vs Kerala

• Jammu and Kashmir 311/9 vs Vidarbha

• Uttar Pradesh 369/7 vs Baroda

• Hyderabad 310/7 vs Assam

Plate Group Matches:

• Meghalaya 217/9 vs Bihar

• Nagaland 399/4 vs Mizoram

• Arunachal Pradesh 246/10 vs Manipur

Devdutt Padikkal raced to 22 off 11 balls, smashing five fours as Karnataka started their 289-run chase against Tamil Nadu. The openers put on a solid 29 without loss in the first four overs.

The momentum was halted immediately as Gurjapneet dismissed Padikkal on the first ball of the fifth over, giving Tamil Nadu an early and crucial breakthrough.

Chasing 218, Bihar's innings has been anchored by a superb half-century from Piyush Kumar Singh, who is batting at 51 off 54. He is being aided by Akash Raj at the other end, who is at 36 off 55. Earlier, Vaibhav Suryavanshi was dismissed after a 10-ball 31, which included six boundaries and a six.

It's a dominant win for Mumbai at the Jaipuria Vidhyalaya Ground, as they crush Chhattisgarh by nine wickets in Jaipur. Angkrish Raghuvanshi dispels worries of injury by finishing unbeaten on 68 as his team chases down a paltry 143-run target in 24 overs. Raghuvanshi was rushed to hospital last week after injuring his shoulder and neck and suffering a concussion while attempting a difficult catch during his team's second-round match against Uttarakhand. But he clearly seems to have recovered nicely, helping Mumbai clinch a third straight win.

Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant (22 not out off 25) is at the crease alongside Tejasvi Dahiya (27 not out off 32) and the duo have taken their team past the 200-run mark. The required run rate is hovering around six an over, which is pretty manageable, especially if Pant stays at the wicket for any length of time. Delhi still have six wickets in hand and need 113 more runs.

Chasing Tamil Nadu's 289-run target, Karnataka are sitting pretty at 237 for four in 41 overs. The fifth-wicket partnership between Shrijith (66 not out off 70) and Gopal (52 not out off 42) is worth 101 undefeated runs, and both get to their half-centuries in the process. Tamil Nadu are in trouble, and need at least two quick wickets to effect a turnaround.

After a superb lower-order resurrection with the bat, Madhya Pradesh have completed a clinical demolition job with the ball, bundling Kerala out for 167 runs to win the Group A match by 48 runs. They thus notch up their third straight win in the tournament.

Krishnan Shrijith (77 off 78) and Shreyas Gopal (55 off 47) depart off consecutive deliveries, but do enough damage to Tamil Nadu by then. Abhinav Manohar smashes an unbeaten 9-ball 20 and Vidyadhar Patil (17 not out off 15) stays there at the end alongside him, as Karnataka complete an easy four-wicket win, chasing down 289 in 47.1 overs. This is Karnataka's third straight victory in the competition, while TN suffer their second defeat in three Group A games.

The lower-middle order comes to Delhi's rescue after Rishabh Pant (22) and Tejasvi Dahiya (53) are dismissed. Harsh Tyagi hits a 45-ball 49, and Navdeep Saini stays unbeaten on 34 off 29 as Delhi chase down Saurashtra's 321-run target in 48.5 overs. It is Delhi's third consecutive win in VHT, while Saurashtra slump to their second loss in a row.

• Uttar Pradesh beat Baroda by 54 runs in Elite Group B clash at Rajkot

• Bengal defeat Chandigarh by six wickets in Elite Group B match at Rajkot

• Uttarakhand clinch a five-wicket win over Punjab in Elite Group C game at Jaipur

• Tripura thrash Rajasthan by 66 runs in Elite Group A match at Ahmedabad

• Jharkhand thump Puducherry by 133 runs in Elite Group A clash at Ahmedabad

• Vidarbha beat Jammu and Kashmir by five wickets in Elite Group B encounter at Rajkot

• Assam edge past Hyderabad by four wickets in Elite Group B game at Rajkot

• Goa get the better of Sikkim by 62 runs in Elite Group C clash at Jaipur

• Himachal Pradesh pip Maharashtra by seven runs in Elite Group C face-off at Jaipur

• Railways defeat Services by 84 runs in Elite Group D match at Alur

• Odisha beat Andhra by six wickets in Elite Group D encounter at Alur

• Haryana prevail over Gujarat by 26 runs in Elite Group D game at Bengaluru

• Bihar thrash Meghalaya by eight wickets in Plate Group match at Ranchi

With that, we conclude our coverage of the round-three Vijay Hazare Trophy matches. We will be back again on December 31 with live updates from the fourth round. Until then, goodbye.