He ended the tournament as the fourth-leading wicket-taker.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) pacer Yash Thakur bowled a match-winning spell in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025/26 final between Vidarbha and Saurashtra. He has been superb throughout the tournament and came up with his best spell in the summit clash.
Thakur took four wickets for 50 runs at an economy rate of 5.10 in 9.5 overs against Saurashtra. He dismissed big batters like Vishvaraj Jadeja and Ruchit Ahir and picked timely wickets with the new and old ball to unsettle the opponent’s batting lineup and help Vidarbha clinch the title.
Yash Thakur ended the tournament as the fourth-leading run-getter, with 19 wickets at an average of 25.58 and a strike rate of 23.84 in nine innings, including two four-wicket hauls. He was expensive at times, as his economy rate of 6.43 suggests, but his knack for taking wickets makes him a solid prospect, someone teams can rely on whenever they require wickets.
For Vidarbha, he has been a consistent performer across formats; now that the team has won a title with Yash as the leading wicket-taker, his performances have become more noticeable. His exploits will also please Punjab Kings, who bought him for INR 1.60 crore at the IPL 2025 auction and retained him before IPL 2026.
Yash Thakur has improved massively as a white-ball bowler and has been among the wickets throughout the domestic season. However, at Punjab Kings, he didn’t have enough opportunities last year, where he played only two games and took a solitary wicket at an economy rate of 12.15.
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PBKS gave more chances to the likes of Vijaykumar Vyshak as the other Indian pacer, along with Arshdeep Singh. But Yash Thakur’s recent form will tempt them to give him more game time and use him in the powerplay and middle overs.
He has the pace and can generate movement off the pitch on lively decks, and his balls hit hard on the willow. These attributes will help Thakur get a few wickets and act as an aggressor in the Punjab Kings’ bowling department.
His only issue has been leaking runs, for Yash Thakur can often be expensive and bowl poor lengths on flat surfaces in this format, meaning IPL will bring a different challenge. But recent improvements suggest that he is more than capable of doing well against quality batters, and PBKS won’t mind him leaking a few runs if they result in crucial breakthroughs at regular intervals.
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