Srinagar, July 7: Hosts NIT Srinagar and NIT Puducherry advanced to the final of the All-India Inter-NIT Faculty & Staff Cricket Tournament 2026 after registering convincing victories in their respective semifinals at the Physical College, Ganderbal.

The title clash will be played on Wednesday between NIT Srinagar and NIT Puducherry, while NIT Hamirpur and NIT Jalandhar will contest the third-place playoff.
In the first semifinal, NIT Jalandhar, after electing to bat, suffered an early collapse and were reduced to 14/4 inside four overs. A fighting partnership between Saurabh Dinkar (71 off 50) and Sourav Gupta (56 off 44) revived the innings, helping their side post 148/5 in 20 overs.
NIT Srinagar's bowlers kept things tight, with Dr. Mohsin returning impressive figures of 2/15. Mudasir Qadir and Dr. Majid Hussain claimed a wicket each, while Dr. Shakeel Waseem and Shahid Hamid maintained pressure with economical spells.
Chasing 149, NIT Srinagar produced a composed batting performance. Dr. Majid Hussain top-scored with 32 off 24 balls, Shahid Hamid struck a brisk 26 off 18, while wicketkeeper Sohail Baba remained unbeaten on 25 off just 13 deliveries. Aaqib Sheikh provided a quick start with 19 off 10 balls as the hosts reached 149/6 in 18.3 overs, sealing a four-wicket win with nine balls to spare.
For NIT Jalandhar, Kundan Kumar claimed 3/20, while Rakesh Kumar and Satyender Singh picked up one wicket each.
In the second semifinal, NIT Hamirpur posted 152/8 after Neeraj Dhiman smashed 80 off 46 balls, supported by Vivek Tiwari's 31. Ismail M starred with the ball for NIT Puducherry, taking 4/20, while Gowrishankar chipped in with 2/16.
Puducherry chased down the target comfortably, reaching 156/4 in 16.4 overs. Alaguraja K anchored the innings with a brilliant 67 off 43 balls to guide his team to a six-wicket victory. Hemraj took 2/26 for Hamirpur.
Alaguraja K was named Man of the Match for his match-winning knock.
Earlier, NIT Puducherry stormed into the semifinals with a dominant 10-wicket win over VNIT in the quarterfinal. VNIT were restricted to 105/9, with Ismail M (3/15), Sudhakar V (2/19) and C.K. Prakash (2/26) leading the bowling effort.
In reply, Alaguraja K (71* off 38) and C.K. Prakash (26* off 23) shared an unbeaten 107-run opening stand as Puducherry chased down the target in just 10.1 overs to book their semifinal berth.