10 Most memorable Vijay Hazare Trophy matches

Domestic tournaments are a major component of any cricketer’s life as they hone and nourish the skills of the aspirant and zealous cricketers and provide them with a platform all-round the year, to showcase their talent and love of the game. While the national team may consist of the 14 best players of the country, an insight into the domestic games will exhilarate as it helps to realize the potential and promise the players in domestic cricket behold.

Vijay Hazare Trophy christened after the cricketer with the same name is one of the most popular domestic limited overs tournament conducted since 2002-2003. There have been some changes in the format of the tournament, and even this year there was a variation in its format changing it from zonal to knockout wherein teams on the basis of their performance will be divided into groups just like Ranji Trophy.

The format might be changing, but each year has come up with its own dynamism giving us many crackling and exciting finishes. Following are some of the most memorable Vijay Hazare Trophy matches.

1. Hyderabad v Andhra Pradesh, 2006:

Andhra Pradesh won a nail-biting match by a narrow margin of just one run against Hyderabad. Initially the Mumbai Indians stalwart Ambati Rayadu with his half century along with his teammates Y. Ganeshwar Rao and K.S Sahabuddin helped the Andhra Pradesh team to get to a decent score of 205 while PK Reddy from Hyderabad continued the spectacular performance he had shown up in the Ranji season of 2005 and scalped three wickets bowling in tandem with P. Niranjan. The anticlimax came when at the start of the Hyderabad innings they were two down for zero owing to the clumsy shot against Kalyankrishna. But then the knocks of D Vinay Kumar and I Khaleel and A Shinde helped them to get past 200 but then the team fell short by a run, thus losing to Andhra Pradesh in a well-fought contest.

2. Baroda v Maharashtra, 2008:

This match was basically a batsman’s game as the three batsmen from Baroda, R Solanki, PR Shah, and Rajesh Pawar helped their side to get a huge total of 366. This was matched by an equally marvelous performance by the Maharashtra batsmen Ameya Shrikhande and NS Paradhakar which helped the home team breeze through the 300 mark. But the dark knight of this match was the evergreen all-rounder Yusuf Pathan who had already dismissed 4 of the Maharashtra batsmen in the match but completed his 5-wicket haul in a heroic way by dismissing Noor Khan in the final over when they were only three runs short of victory.

3. UP v Himachal Pradesh, 2009:

This was a match which for more than anything else is remembered for the sensational all-round performance of the spinner Piyush Chawla who has enthralled the fans with equally amazing performances in ODI as well as IPL matches. But in this match it was his all-round performance which got him the appreciation. When the chips of Uttar Pradesh were down at 105/5, a much needed 79-run partnership between Chawla and Ravikant Shukla helped their side get past the 200 mark and then later he showed his bowling potential by taking 4 wickets for 41. This was aided by the brilliant pace bowling of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and the ace fielder Mohd. Kaif which helped their side to get into the semi-finals.

4. Baroda v Maharashtra, 2010:

Although recently Yusuf Pathan has not been playing blitzkrieg innings at the international level as he has been out of the side for long, his domestic record speaks volumes of his hard-hitting talent which has come in handy for Baroda on various occasions. The match was in a balanced position after the Maharashtra batsmen Kedhar Jadhav, Ansari and Khadiwale put up a total of 230 and in response, Baroda was 99/3 when Pathan came in the 23^rd over. But from then on the match charted a different course as Pathan went on to score a 40-ball ton which is the third fastest in the history of domestic cricket and led his side to a frenetic victory.

5. Mumbai v Saurashtra, 2011:

Rohit Sharma has been dazzling everyone with his flamboyance with the bat in ODIs and T20, but this was one of the memorable matches where he left everyone awestruck with his brilliant all- round performance. In this match, he scalped four wickets including those of CheteshwarPujara and top scorer Ravindra Jadeja and was aided by Iqbal Abdullah which helped in reducing Saurashtra to a total of 205. Later on, his knock of 96 runs with the bat helped Mumbai get a victory in an evenly balanced contest.

6. Madhya Pradesh v Railways, 2012:

This match is a reminder as one of the most dismal performances in domestic cricket. In this match, the entire Madhya Pradesh team was bowled out for a paltry total of 48. On a brighter side, Shailendra Gehlot from railways took his career best of 6 wickets for 20 runs and the keeper Mahesh Rawat finished with seven catches, one short of the List A record. In response to this, the railways chased this total down in 10 overs and won the match by 9 wickets.

7. UP v Railways, 2013:

This is an example of one of those matches where victory could not be predicted until the last ball. Put in to bat first by the Railways, Uttar Pradesh was off to a poor start as they were 2 down for 9 but then a 104-run partnership between Suresh Raina and Kaif, followed by a 82-run stand by Dwivedi and Akshadeep Nath helped them in getting to a total of 272. Although the Railways were steady in their gradual progress towards the total with decent performances by the top and middle order, it was the sudden fall of 3 wickets in the penultimate and ultimate over which destroyed their hopes. Then in a dramatic turn of events, Karn Sharma scored 17 of 4 balls with 3 runs to score from the last ball. But then the Indian knight Raina did what he does best and hit the stumps to run out Shailendra Ghelot and the Railways bundled up for 270.

8. Odisha v Jharkhand, 2013:

This was one of those matches where Jharkhand would have longed for their domestic knight Mahendra Singh Dhoni to steer them through the innings. In the first innings, Odisha openers Paresh Patel and Arabind Singh with a blistering knock of 126 and 132 respectively helped their side to build a total of 353. In response, there was the dismal performance of the Jharkhand side wherein the entire top order was dismissed within single digits. This was possible because of the breathtaking performance of Suryankant Pradhan who took a wicket in every over except his first with figures of 43 for 8 and ultimately Odisha won the match by a big margin of 235 runs.

9. Odisha v Goa, 2014:

This was one of the most thrilling victories for Odisha which helped the team reach the semi-finals in which the star of the match was the Odisha captain Biplab Samantray who scored his maiden List A ton along with AR Sarangi who made 112 runs and helped Odisha to put a formidable total of 289. Goa started their chase wonderfully with Amogh Desai and Sagun Kamat scoring 110 and 92 respectively, but a sudden downfall saw them lose 6 wickets against 24 runs and put them off the track. Then Shadab Jakati’s 26 of 16 balls turned the fortune in favor of Goa and they were only 3 runs away from victory on the last ball. But Samantray, who had already impressed everyone with his bat, left no room for criticism as he gave only one run off the last ball and his team entered the semis with a much-deserved win.

10. Railways v Rajasthan, 2014:

Nagpur matches recently have been in the midst of a lot of controversy. In addition to the recent pitch controversy, last year there was a historical display of poor performance when the Rajasthan team was bowled out for disrespectable total of 35 by the Railways. The situation was so worse that the first four batsmen of the Rajasthan top order were out for a duck and the team was 8 down for 17 at one point of the match but managed to narrowly pass the lowest total of domestic cricket that is 34 runs made by Saurashtra way back in 1990. The main stalwarts for the Railways were their bowlers Anureet Singh and Amit Mishra who scalped 5 wickets each. In response, Railways overhauled it in 5.3 over.