Mumbai has the wherewithal to thwart Vidarbha; Punjab locks horns with H.P.

Star-studded Mumbai will rely on its depth against a competent Vidarbha in the semifinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led team, packed with known batters such as Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Yashasvi Jaiswal and all-rounder Shivam Dube, showed the capability of its long batting line-up when it notched up a two-wicket win over Saurashtra in the quarterfinals.

The bowling attack, comprising proven wicket-takers such as Tushar Deshpande, Shams Mulani, Mohit Avasthi, Tanush Kotian, has served the team well and would be ready to give its best against its Maharashtra opposition.

Vidarbha, which has also benefitted from the good showing of its batters including Akshay Wadkar, Apoorv Wankhede and Atharva Taide, will expect them to rise to the occasion.

Umesh Yadav, Yash Thakur, Aditya Sarwate and Darshan Nalkande checked Delhi’s progress in the last eight and will look to do so against Mumbai.

In the other semifinal, Himachal Pradesh may face a tough challenge against a formidable Punjab.

Punjab, consisting of last match’s centurion Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh, has enough resources in the batting department.

Led by ace pacer Siddharth Kaul, whose role was crucial in thwarting Karnataka, Punjab’s bowling attack has a few potent weapons in Baltej Singh and Mayank Markande.

Himachal, which pipped host Bengal, will bank on the experienced Prashant Chopra and fine finisher Akash Vashisht in batting and the utility trio of all-rounder Rishi Dhawan, K.D. Singh, Mayank Dagar and Vaibhav Arora in bowling.

Semifinal fixtures: Punjab vs. Himachal Pradesh (11 a.m.), Mumbai vs. Vidarbha (4.30 p.m.).