VHT round up: Rishabh Pant gives no ground for ODI selection, Dhruv Jurel shines with ton

Monday, Dec 29, 2025 6:05 pm

Credit: AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Alamy

Let's take a look at how he players like Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel fared in round 3 matches of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025/26.

India cricket team mainstays Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Sharma failed to fare well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy round 3 matches while some of the uncapped Indian players emerged as top performers for their respective teams. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya did not take part in the matches, given that two of them had already played a couple of matches in the tournament while the third is being cautiously used keeping the T20 World Cup 2026 in mind. Let’s take a look at how the players fared in round 3 matches of VHT 2025/26.

Rishabh Pant fails

Pant, who is battling for a spot in the Indian ODI team, managed to score just 22 runs off 26 deliveries before he was forced to walk back to the pavilion. He managed to strike just a couple of sixes during his short-lived knock. Pant, who is Delhi’s captain in the ongoing VHT, has so far managed to score 5 and 70 prior to this game. The southpaw’s knock puts him in a perilous position in terms of selection for the IND vs NZ ODI series. After all, he was able to find his way into the squad for the IND vs SA series simply because a regular Team India star in the 50-over format was injured. Nevertheless, Pant’s poor performance could very well result in his extended exile from the 50-over format squad for India.

Prithvi Shaw demoted

Maharashtra suffered a 7-run loss to Himachal Pradesh on Monday. Shaw, who moved from Mumbai to the team ahead of the 2025/26 domestic season, came out to bat at an unusual position – at number 7. He managed to score just 22 runs off 14 deliveries before he was sent packing. Clearly, the new position didn’t work out for Prithvi.

Rare failure from Padikkal

Meanwhile, Padikkal – who averages over 80 in List A cricket – witnessed a rare failure as he was dismissed for just 22 runs in the game against Tamil Nadu. With mind-boggling stats in List A cricket to date, the Karnataka batter’s exclusion from the Indian ODI squad to date is quite shocking. However, given the competition in the side, he has very less chances of making it to the squad. Nevertheless, Padikkal will be aiming to return to his usual form in the next round of VHT in order to fancy a chance of breaking into not just the squad but the playing XI.

Ghosh’s 7-fer and Anukul Roy’s all-round brilliance

Ghosh wreaked havoc on Himachal Pradesh in he Vijay Hazare Trophy game on Monday, finishing with figures of 7/42 in 9.2 overs. He was instrumental in dismantling HP’s op-order, and struck at regular intervals to never let the side get the scoreboard ticking. The right-arm medium fast bowler’s victims include Innesh Mahajan, A Kalsi, E Sen, Pukhraj Mann, N Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, and Rohit Kumar.

Jharkhand’s Anukul Roy, in 11 matches, has gone on to score 303 runs at an average of 60, with highest score of 95 in SMAT. The strike-rate was up at 160; he even picked up 18 wickets and economy was down at only 7.41. He stayed unbeaten on 98 in the game against Pondicherry and registered figures of 2/58 in his 9.4 over quota.