Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 Review: Providing another flicker to ODI cricket’s ever-guttering flame

In an age where the relevance of a format hinges on the ICC event scheduled to follow, in this case, the T20 World Cup in June 2024, it was tough to identify what the recently concluded edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy set out to achieve.

The Haryana team celebrates after beating Rajasthan in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Rajkot, Gujarat. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Held under the shadow of India’s World Cup final defeat and in a format overwhelmingly thought to be in limbo, the Vijay Hazare Trophy initially felt a little out of place.

In an age where the relevance of a format hinges on the ICC event scheduled to follow, in this case, the T20 World Cup in June 2024, it was tough to identify what the tournament set out to achieve. Cricket, for the sake of it, is a concept that finds fewer takers by the minute, and every competition now either needs to entertain or unearth the next T20 sensation that could dazzle at the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Haryana team players celebrate their victory after they beat Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final in Rajkot, Gujarat. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

But Haryana’s maiden 50-over title triumph came as a timely reminder that domestic teams and states have their own life cycles, narrative arcs, and identities. The last time Haryana had won silverware was when Kapil Dev’s side beat the Rest of India in the Irani Trophy in 1991-92 after handing the State team its first and only Ranji Trophy title in 1990-91.

Thirty-two years on, Haryana’s leading run-scorer from that epochal Ranji Trophy campaign, Amarjit Kaypee, is in charge of the State team as head coach. The helmsman on the field, Ashok Menaria, had a moment of redemption after beating Rajasthan, his home State that he served for 15 years, before unceremoniously parting ways earlier in 2023, in the final in Rajkot.

REPLAY - PODCAST | Amarjit Kaypee held the record for being the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy until 2009. He had an extraordinary career where he played for Punjab and subsequently Haryana in the domestic league eventually helping the latter to lift the trophy. Amarjit shared the dressing room with the likes of Kapil Dev and recalls those stories in this episode. He goes from sharing anecdotes with Kapil to explaining the difference between cricket played then and now. Listen on Pen, Paper and Podcast with Vijay Lokapally.

For those on the prowl for a young potential IPL talent, there was 28-year-old all-rounder Sumit Kumar, whose late cameo with the bat and early salvo with the ball earned him the Player of the Match award in the final and the Player of the Series accolade. His 18 wickets and batting strike rate of over 150 in the tournament may have catapulted the Gurgaon-born cricketer high into the wish list of enthusiasts. But Kaypee wants Sumit to increase his pace before moving to the next level.

Haryana’s Sumit Kumar. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Rajasthan’s Aniket Choudhary, the tournament’s joint-highest wicket-taker, was surprised to be clocking 140 kmph after dropping pace over the last few years. The 33-year-old left-arm quick highlighted the importance of telecasting or streaming domestic matches live when he said that he realised he had regained his speed only because there was an online stream available for the semifinal between Rajasthan and Karnataka.

Choudhary, tied with Varun Chakravarthy, Siddarth Kaul, and Harshal Patel’s 19 wickets in the competition and the only uncapped player from the lot, was the most impressive. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Yuzvendra Chahal’s 18 wickets in eight matches for Haryana also played a role in his comeback to India’s ODI squad for the tour of South Africa.

After there was no telecast of any group stage matches, only four knockout games, held at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, out of nine, saw live coverage.

Meanwhile, at the remote Sanosara Cricket Ground ‘B’, about 30 kilometres from the SCA Stadium, where the high-profile quarterfinal clash between Tamil Nadu and Mumbai was held, there was an air of incredulity. Set against the backdrop of unending fields and wilderness, the sight of Dinesh Karthik and Ajinkya Rahane in half-built and hastily whitewashed dressing rooms struck quite a discordant note.

While Karthik and Rahane are past their prime, Rajasthan skipper Deepak Hooda made a strong case for a recall with a situation-defying 180 against Karnataka’s vaunted pace attack in the semifinal.

With 480 runs, the third most in the tournament, and a strike rate over 100 at No. 4, Hooda proved yet again that he is a different batter higher up the order.

Rajasthan’s captain Deepak Hooda scored a century during the second Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal against Karnataka in Rajkot, Gujarat. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

A few rungs below Hooda, Shashank Singh of Chhattisgarh, who scored 450 runs in the tournament, set a unique record against Manipur by becoming the first Indian batter to score 150 and pick five wickets in the same match in List A cricket. In another stunning record, Punjab registered the biggest win in List A cricket by balls remaining when it overhauled Nagaland’s 75 with 275 balls to spare.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for the traditional heavyweights against the less-fancied teams. Wriddhiman Saha may be in the twilight of his career, but he ushered in a new dawn for Tripura cricket, leading the side to two remarkable victories against defending champion Saurashtra and Mumbai.

Manisankar Murasingh’s all-round brilliance in both games—he scored a combined 80 runs and picked up six wickets in the two wins—could mean cricket in the Northeast may have its first homegrown poster boy.

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which ended in early November, indicated that T20 domestic cricket in India was in sync with international trends as far as the emphasis on scoring briskly was concerned. However, the 50-over domestic tournament seemed incongruous with the evolving ways of One-Day International cricket. Out of the 135 matches, or 270 potential batting innings, scheduled for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, teams touched or breached the 300-run mark only 23 times.

If the recently concluded ICC ODI World Cup is a touchstone for where one-day cricket is headed, teams surpassed the 300-run mark on 25 occasions in a 48-match tournament.

Though day games with an early morning start, when the ball swings prodigiously, especially with the onset of winter, played a part in reining in the scoring rates, openers were often found wanting in technique and intent in the first PowerPlay.

Haryana’s Rahul Tewatia celebrates with teammates. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Thus, the onus was on consolidation against spin in the middle overs and the finishers to crank through the gears in the last 10 overs. The likes of Sumit, Manoj Bhandage, Vishnu Vinod, Abdul Basith, and Rahul Tewatia, in the second regard, ably stepped up to the challenge.

Indian cricket has grown a little wary of winning streaks of late. But either Haryana or Rajasthan, on nine and eight-match winning streaks, respectively, ahead of the final, was bound to emerge unblemished. Haryana eventually extended its unbeaten run to 10 matches, leaving Rajasthan with the solitary consolation of arguably being the better team in the tournament. That argument, as the recent past has shown, does little to dampen the spirits of the champion.