Vijay Hazare Trophy Live Updates: KL Rahul falls after Padikkal's 100

Just after Padikkal completes his hundred with a single, Tripura have struck a huge blow as Sarkar sends back KL Rahul for 35 off 28 balls. A shorter delivery aimed at the body, Rahul tried to hook it behind square leg but gets surprised with a sudden bounce and keeper Sentu Sarkar does his job with the gloves. 
Abhinav Manohar is the new batter in and scores 3 boundaries in his first 3 balls! Talk about intent. 

KAR: 219/4 after 38 overs. 

On a day where India will announce the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series vs New Zealand, Devdutt Padikkal has once again forced selectors to look at him. 

The Karnataka opener has hammered his 4TH CENTURY IN 5 INNINGS in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. The lad averages over 83 in List-A cricket and his performances have been utterly utopian in the format. A century when his team lost early wickets and he is still going strong. 

Padikkal's scores in VHT 2025/26 - 147, 124, 22, 113, and now 100*

Continuing his fiery form, Hardik Pandya has walloped a fifty on his return at the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) for Baroda. Despite his Baroda in massive trouble at 71/5, Pandya came in and has now struck a heroic fifty. He first stitched a 65-run stand with brother Krunal Pandya before completing his fifty in 44 balls. 
A counter-attacking innings by the Indian superstar as he has struck 5 fours and 3 sixes so far. 

Baroda: 156/6 (32.3 Ov)

Meanwhile, two regulars of the Indian T20I team, Tilak Varma and Axar Patel have recorded fifties for their respective sides. 
Tilak, batting at No.3 against Chandigarh, is holding the fort for Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Axar Patel saved Gujarat after they lost 3 wickets for 29 runs. Axar is batting on 74* and is on course for a hundred. He is currently batting with the player he helped and nurtured, Vishal Jayswal.

Gujarat: 159/5 (33.2 Ov) vs Andhra 

KL Rahul has finally arrived on the crease as he joins in-form Devdutt Padikkal for Karnataka. After 6/2, Padikkal and Smaran Ravichandran stitched a much-needed 136-run partnership before Saha dismissed Smaran for 60. 
At 5, KL Rahul comes to the crease and he would look to pace the innings with 20 overs still to go. Padikkal is batting on 78 off 81 balls. 

KAR: 150/3 after 29.4 overs.

Baroda are in a spot of bother against Vidarbha. They have lost 5 wickets for just 71 runs but now, Baroda have the safest pair at the crease. Captain Krunal Pandya is batting with Hardik Pandya as they look to counter attack Baroda. Harsh Dubey has brought in Praful Hinge to breach this partnership. 

BAR: 98/5 after 25 overs. 

In a high-octane Maharashtra vs Mumbai affair, Prithvi Shaw and Arshin Kulkarni have provided a dream start to the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side. The duo has added 122 runs in 20 overs for the opening wicket. The likes of Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tushar Deshpande have been wicketless so far.

Punjab's Arshdeep Singh wreaks havoc in Jaipur as he takes 3 wickets against Sikkim. Bowling a seven-over spell for Punjab, Arshdeep was unplayable, reducing the side to just 44/5. Sukhdeep Bajwa took two wickets as well as Punjab is on top right now.

🚨Some India players taking part in this Vijay Hazare Trophy Fixtures (Jan 3)

• KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair, Prasidh Krishna - Karnataka
• Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, - Tamil Nadu 
• Ishan Kishan - Jharkhand
• Sanju Samson - Kerala
• Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya - Baroda 
• Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav - Uttar Pradesh
• Mohammed Siraj, Tilak Varma - Hyderabad 
• Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep - Bengal 
• Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw - Maharashtra
• Shardul Thakur, Yashasvi Jaiswal - Mumbai 
• Arshdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh - Punjab 
• Rishabh Pant, Harshit Rana, Ishant Sharma, Nitish Rana - Delhi 
• Nitish Kumar Reddy - Andhra 
• Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi - Gujarat

Despite all the hype around his comeback, Shubman Gill is not part of Punjab's XI today. While Arshdeep Singh is playing in the Punjab vs Sikkim fixture, Gill isn't. It may be because of the delay of his flight as well. 

Abhishek Sharma is also not playing this round of fixture despite captaining Punjab in the tournament so far. Punjab's XI vs Sikkim: 
Prabhsimran Singh (c)(wk), Harnoor Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Naman Dhir, Ramandeep Singh, Krish Bhagat, Sukhdeep Bajwa, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Uday Saharan, Mayank Markande

Sikkim: 23/3 after 5 overs.

Put to bat first on a greenish Narendra Modi Stadium deck, Karnataka have lost two stars early on. Tripura's Abhijit has struck twice in an over to send back captain Mayank Agarwal (5) and Karun Nair (0) to have KAR reeling at 12/2.

Man-in-form Devdutt Padikkal is joined by Smaran Ravichandran in the middle, with KL Rahul slotted to bat next. 

Superbly, Hardik Pandya also makes his return in the Vijay Hazare Trophy side for Baroda. You can watch this game on JioHotstar as well! Vidarbha captain Harsh Dubey as asked Baroda to bat first. 

Baroda Playing XI vs Vidarbha

Krunal Pandya (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Hardik Pandya, Nitya Pandya, Ah Pasi, Priyanshu Moliya, Vishnu Solanki, Atith Sheth, Raj Limbani, Mahesh Pithiya, Karan Umatt

Ishan Kishan vs Sanju Samson today 🚨

Emphatically, the Kerala vs Jharkhand match sees two incredible players go head-to-head. While Kishan returns to captain Jharkhand, Samson is playing his first VHT match of the season. 

Jharkhand XI: Ishan Kishan (c)(wk), Kumar Kushagra, Virat Singh, Shikhar Mohan, Utkarsh Singh, Anukul Roy, Rajan Deep, Kounain Quraishi, Manishi, Shubham Kumar Singh, Vikash Singh

Kerala XI: Rohan Kunnummal (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Mohammed Azharuddeen, Baba Aparajith, Vishnu Vinod, Ankit Sharma, Nidheesh M D, Vignesh Puthur, Edhen Apple Tom, Salman Nizar, Sharafuddeen

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are playing!

Delhi XI vs Services: Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (c)(wk), Nitish Rana, Tejasvi Singh, Harsh Tyagi, Harshit Rana, Ishant Sharma, Prince Yadav, Navdeep Saini.

Karnataka XI vs Tripura: Mayank Agarawal (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair, Smaran Ravichandran, KL Rahul (wk), Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal, Vidyadhar Patil, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Prasidh Krishna, Shreesha S Achar

Interestingly, Axar Patel is also playing this round as he is part of Gujarat's playing XI for the clash against Andhra Pradesh. 

Gujarat's Playing XI: Arzan Nagwaswalla, Aarya Desai, Ahaan Poddar, Axar Patel, Chintan Gaja (C), JK Bhatt, Jaymeet Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, S D Chauhan, Urvil Patel (Wk), Vishal Jayswal
Andhra Pradesh Playing XI: C R Gnaneshwar, Marthala Dhanush, Nitish Kumar Reddy (C), KS Bharat (Wk), M Anjaneyelu, Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy, Satyanarayana Raju, Sai Sandeep, Saketh Ram, Sdnv Prasad, Yara Sandeep

Superbly for fans, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul add star power in this round of fixtures. While Gill will play the Punjab vs Sikkim fixture, Rahul has turned up for Karnataka in their clash against Tripura. Gill's match won't be lived streamed but Rahul's will be! 

It would be interesting to see how Gill performs as he takes the field for the first time ever since getting axed from the T20I team by the BCCI. Rahul, meanwhile, should be batting in his usual No. 5/6 slot for Karnataka as well.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage and blog for Round 5 matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) on January 3. This is a big day as Shubman Gill and KL Rahul return in the domestic circuit as they prepare for the India vs New Zealand ODIs. The ODI squad will also be announced today. A big day certainly!