After a month and a half of exhilarating highs, brought to a close by a scarcely fathomable low, 50-over cricket in India is set to push on with the commencement of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The city of royalty and grandeur, Jaipur, will host 28 Group B fixtures across four stadiums.
Maharashtra, the runner-up from the previous edition; Hyderabad, Vidarbha, Services, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, and Meghalaya comprise Group B.
Maharashtra had a successful run in the previous season by winning eight games in a row. However, it lost to Saurashtra in the final. This year, the team would hope to secure a spot in the knockouts.
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Ruturaj Gaikwad, the team’s top performer in the 2022 season with 660 runs in five matches, will not be available for the initial games. He has been selected for the Indian team, which will face Australia in five T20 internationals. With experienced middle-order batsman Rahul Tripathi moving to Goa, Ankeet Bawne and Kedar Jadhav will now be responsible for anchoring the middle order.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Satyajeet Bachhav will be key players in the bowling department, an area where the team struggled during the poor Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2023 campaign. The duo combined for 30 wickets last year and will be supported by Manoj Ingale and Prashant Solanki.
Hyderabad had a below-par tournament last time around, failing to advance past the group stages. It will be without the services of Tilak Varma, who has also found a place on the Indian roster for the Aussie T20Is.
Rohit Rayudu will be a player to look out for in Hyderabad. He was part of the South Zone team that won the Deodhar Trophy earlier in the year and had a decent outing in the recently concluded SMAT.
Vidarbha looked strong during the SMAT, topping its group before losing to Delhi in the quarterfinal. Veteran domestic batters Karun Nair and Dhruv Shorey have been added to shore up the batting, but Indian team-bound Jitesh Sharma misses out.
The bowling attack looks strong, with Umesh Yadav and Rajneesh Gurbani aided by the young, quick Yash Thakur. The team, led by Atharva Taide, will be one of the top title contenders.
Jharkhand, captained by Virat Singh, aims to qualify for the knockouts after the SMAT miss. Kumar Kushagra, in top form from the Deodhar Trophy, and experienced bowlers Varun Aaron and Shahbaz Nadeem are crucial to the team’s prospects.
The other four teams will be keen to throw a spanner in the works by forcing an upset or two.
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