Punjab Cricket Team vs Maharashtra Cricket Team Match Scorecard: Ranji 2025-26, VHT 2025-26 + All-Time H2H Guide

November 15, 2025. New Cricket Ground, Mullanpur, Punjab. Ranji Trophy 2025-26. Punjab win the toss They put Maharashtra in by lunch on Day 1 Maharashtra 129/0 in 35 overs. Arshin Kulkarni 67 off 108. Prithvi Shaw: 61 off 102 neither dismissed. By Day 2 morning session: Maharashtra are all out for 350. Punjab begin their chase. By stumps Day 2: Punjab 125/4 in 47 overs trailing by 225 runs.

Day 3 morning punjab are bowled out for 151. They follow on immediately by day 3 afternoon: Punjab are bowled out for 107 in the follow-on maharashtra win by an innings and 92 runs. Maharashtra: 7 points. Punjab: 0. But exactly 39 days later, the same two teams met at the Anantam Ground in Jaipur Vijay Hazare Trophy. 50-over format.

Punjab posted 347/6 in 50 overs their highest-ever List A total against Maharashtra.Maharashtra replied with 296/8. Punjab beat Maharashtra by 51 runs. Punjab: 4 points. Maharashtra 0. Same season. Two different formats two completely opposite results.

Season Summary: PUN vs MAH 2025-26 Results

Match	Format	Date	Venue	Result
Ranji Trophy 2025-26	First-class (4-day)	Nov 15-18, 2025	Mullanpur, Punjab	MAH won by innings + 92 runs
Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26	List A (50-over)	Dec 24, 2025	Anantam Ground, Jaipur	PUN won by 51 runs

Maharashtra dominated the first-class format comprehensively. Punjab reversed the result within 6 weeks in 50-over cricket posting their highest List A total against Maharashtra in the process.

The Format Split: Maharashtra Win 4-Day; Punjab Win 50-Over

The most important story in this 2025-26 rivalry is the format split.

In 4-day cricket, Maharashtra’s batting depth (Arshin Kulkarni 133, Prithvi Shaw 74, Ankit Bawne as captain, Vicky Ostwal and Jalaj Saxena as spin resources) creates structural advantages that compound across days 3 and 4. Punjab folded for 107 in their follow-on their lowest team total in this bilateral in recent memory.

In 50-over cricket, Punjab’s explosive batting lineup capable of 347/6 in 50 overs neutralises Maharashtra’s spin-bowling advantage. A higher-scoring format with smaller margins of error in bowling means Maharashtra’s spin resources can’t build pressure the same way across 10 overs each.

Punjab’s 347/6 in the VHT against the same Maharashtra bowling attack that dismissed them for 151 and 107 across two Ranji innings is not a contradiction it’s a format truth. In Ranji Trophy, Punjab were exposed on Day 3 and 4 conditions (used pitch, reverse swing, spinning off-breaks from Ostwal). In the VHT, 50 fresh overs on a flat Jaipur surface erased all those variables. 347/6 vs 151 and 107: the same Punjab batters, different format, completely different result.

Ranji Trophy 2025-26: Maharashtra Won by Innings + 92 Runs: Full Scorecard

Innings	Score	Overs	Top Performers
Maharashtra 1st	350	~115 ov	Arshin Kulkarni 133/229; Prithvi Shaw 74/117
Punjab 1st	151	58.4 ov	Anmol Malhotra 34*(81), Salil Arora 19
Punjab 2nd (f/o)	107	40.5 ov	—
Result	MAH won by innings + 92 runs		MAH 7 pts; PUN 0

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Maharashtra bowling 1st innings vs Punjab:

• Vicky Ostwal: key wickets through left-arm spin
• Gurnoor Brar (Punjab): 4/115 in 25.3 overs Punjab’s best bowling effort, but at 4.5 per over across MAH’s innings
• Mayank Markande (Punjab): 2/56 in 21 overs

Punjab bowling in MAH’s innings:

• Harpreet Brar, Gurnoor Brar, Mayank Markande, Abhinav Sharma shared the wickets

Maharashtra’s 350: Arshin Kulkarni 133 and Prithvi Shaw 74: The 144-Run Opening Stand

Day 1 began with Arshin Kulkarni and Prithvi Shaw opening for Maharashtra at Mullanpur. By lunch, they had put on 129 runs without losing a wicket in 35 overs. Their opening partnership stretched to 144 runs (Prithvi Shaw dismissed for 74 at 38.1 overs). Arshin Kulkarni batted on he reached his century by tea on Day 1, eventually scoring 133 off 229 balls a patient, technically correct innings that consumed nearly a day’s play in its entirety.

Maharashtra’s innings progressed: Siddhesh Veer 36, Sachin Dhas 10, Ankit Bawne (capt.) contribution, Saurabh Nawale, Ramakrishna Ghosh eventually reaching 350 all out by Day 2’s first session.

Unique insight: Prithvi Shaw’s 74 off 117 balls as Maharashtra opener is the most significant individual data point across both 2025-26 matches. Shaw a former India U-19 captain and Test opener who had a turbulent period out of competitive cricket scoring a composed 74 in a first-class Ranji Trophy match as part of a 144-run opening stand shows Maharashtra’s batting strength: they have Shaw as their opener and still lost him for 74 with the score on 144. Their number 3, 4, 5, and 6 batters still accumulated enough for 350.

Punjab’s Collapse: 151 and 107 f/o: The Follow-On Doubles the Loss

Punjab’s 1st innings of 151 in 58.4 overs left them 199 runs behind Maharashtra’s 350. The follow-on was enforced immediately.

Top contributors in Punjab’s 1st innings:

• Anmol Malhotra: 34* off 81 balls top score, but in a tail-end resistance that came too late
• Salil Arora: 19
• Top-order: Harnoor Singh (lbw Ghosh), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul (b Kulkarni), Abhinav Sharma (c Shaw b Ostwal)

Punjab 2nd innings (follow-on): 107 in 40.5 overs.

This is where things go wrong for Punjab in 4-day cricket: Following on after conceding 199 runs is almost always fatal in domestic first-class cricket on Day 3. Punjab faced fresh Maharashtra bowlers on a pitch that had absorbed 3+ days of play. Maharashtra’s spinners Vicky Ostwal especially exploited the fifth-day surface already deteriorating by Day 3. Punjab’s batters who had shown resistance (Malhotra’s 34*) in the 1st innings couldn’t hold the 2nd innings together at all.

107 all out in 40.5 overs = 2.61 runs per over average. Maharashtra’s spinners dried up Punjab’s scoring entirely.

Day-by-Day Breakdown

Day	Event	Score at End of Day
Day 1 (Nov 15)	MAH bat; Shaw-Kulkarni 144 opening stand	MAH 275/5 (88 ov) — Kulkarni 133, Shaw 74
Day 2 (Nov 16)	MAH complete 350; PUN begin; PUN stumps 125/4	PUN 125/4 (47 ov) — Malhotra 34*, Arora 19
Day 3 (Nov 17)	PUN all out 151; follow-on; PUN all out 107	Match OVER — MAH won innings + 92

The match ended on Day 3 one full day ahead of schedule. Maharashtra’s bowling was efficient enough to dismiss Punjab twice in Day 2 and Day 3 without requiring a 4th day at all.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: Punjab Won by 51 Runs: Full Scorecard

Match 15, Elite Group C, December 24, 2025. Anantam Ground, Jaipur

Innings	Score	Overs	Result
Punjab	347/6	50 ov	Punjab’s highest-ever List A total vs MAH
Maharashtra	296/8	50 ov	Fell 51 runs short
Result	Punjab beat Maharashtra by 51 runs		Punjab 4 pts, Maharashtra 0

Punjab’s 347/6 in 50 Overs: Performance Breakdown

347/6 in 50 overs at Jaipur’s Anantam Ground represents 6.94 runs per over across the full innings an aggressive scoring rate that requires consistent batting from overs 1 through 50. Punjab’s innings was built on middle-order power combined with an explosive finish consistent with how Punjab construct List A innings when their top-order fires and the lower-order doesn’t collapse.

Counterintuitive idea: Punjab posted 347/6 against the same Maharashtra attack that dismissed them for 151 in the Ranji Trophy a difference of 196 runs for the loss of 4 fewer wickets. This wasn’t a different Maharashtra bowling attack. It was the same spinners (Ostwal, Saxena), the same pacers. The difference is format-structural: in 50 overs, you know exactly how many deliveries you have. Punjab’s batters planned for 300 balls and delivered 347. In 4-day cricket, the open-ended format allowed Maharashtra’s spinners to build pressure across sessions without time constraint.

Maharashtra Chase 296/8: Why 51 Runs Was the Gap

Maharashtra’s 296/8 in 50 overs was the second-highest List A total Maharashtra have posted against Punjab in this series of meetings. But 296 chasing 348 never had enough momentum after Punjab’s bowling removed early wickets. Maharashtra couldn’t accelerate past 5.9 runs per over across 50 overs with 8 wickets falling a sign that Punjab’s bowling, energised by the big total behind them, created consistent pressure.

What most people miss: 296/8 in 50 overs is not a poor Maharashtra batting performance in absolute terms it’s actually above the average first-innings score in VHT Elite Group C. But chasing 348, Maharashtra needed 6.96 per over from the first ball. That required wickets in hand throughout, not the 8-wicket loss they conceded. The result (51-run loss) looks close. The chase was never really competitive after the middle overs.

VHT Quarter-Final 2024-25: Maharashtra Beat Punjab by 70 Runs

January 11, 2025. Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara. VHT Quarter-Final. Maharashtra 275/6 in 50 overs. Punjab 205 in 44.4 overs. Maharashtra won by 70 runs.

This was the knockout-stage context that preceded the 2025-26 bilateral season. Maharashtra knocked Punjab out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 at the quarter-final stage a result that set up the 2025-26 season rivalry with an existing psychological dynamic.

Turning point: Punjab were 205 in 44.4 overs chasing 276, They fell 71 short with 5.2 overs remaining. Maharashtra’s bowling, led by Vicky Ostwal’s economy in the middle overs, applied pressure after Punjab’s middle-order lost wickets in quick succession. The QF loss meant Punjab entered the 2025-26 domestic season with a losing record against Maharashtra across all recent VHT meetings. Their December 2025 347/6 win was the correction.

Head-to-Head: Punjab vs Maharashtra All Formats

Format	Recent Results	MAH	PUN
Ranji Trophy (First-class)	MAH won innings+92 (Nov 2025)	Dominant	Weak
Vijay Hazare Trophy (List A)	PUN won 51 runs (Dec 2025); MAH won QF 70 runs (Jan 2025)	4	2
List A all-time (VHT + all)	6 matches total	4-2 MAH	2-4
T20 (SMAT)	MAH won 2021 (138 vs 137); MAH won 2019 (201 vs 156)	Generally MAH	PUN won some

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Overall picture: Maharashtra hold a comprehensive lead across all domestic formats. In List A cricket, Maharashtra lead 4-2 across 6 matches. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20), Maharashtra won their most recent bilateral T20 meeting in 2021 (by 7 wickets). In Ranji Trophy, Maharashtra have won or drawn most recent meetings the Nov 2025 innings win being their most dominant performance.

Three Original Observations

1. Punjab’s 347/6 in the Dec 2025 VHT against the same Maharashtra bowling attack that dismissed them for 151 and 107 in the Nov 2025 Ranji Trophy is the single most striking format-performance reversal in this bilateral rivalry in recent seasons. The gap between Punjab’s 4-day performance (151 & 107) and their 50-over performance (347/6) represents 285 runs of difference for effectively the same group of batters against the same bowling attack. No factor other than format can explain this same teams, same season, 39 days apart.
2. Arshin Kulkarni’s 133 off 229 balls alongside Prithvi Shaw’s 74 off 117 balls producing a 144-run opening stand is the structural reason Maharashtra won the Ranji Trophy match before Day 3 ended. Maharashtra’s batting was so front-loaded that by the time Punjab’s bowling removed the 1st-wicket partnership, Maharashtra had already insured the rest of the innings. Shaw was dismissed for 74 with the score on 144. Kulkarni continued to 133. By the time the 5th wicket fell at 256, Maharashtra already had enough. The 144-run opening stand made the match result inevitable from Day 1 afternoon.
3. Punjab’s Day 3 score of 107 all out in the follow-on in 40.5 overs is the lowest team total in any competitive match between these two teams in 2025-26. It is 44 runs fewer than their 1st innings (151), meaning Punjab’s follow-on batting was actually worse than their first innings despite knowing exactly what was required and having batters who had already seen the pitch conditions. The psychological compression of a follow-on in first-class cricket no rest, same pitch, immediate resumption broke Punjab’s batting completely. It tells you more about Punjab’s current first-class team culture under pressure than any individual performance stat.

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