Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023: All you need to know
India's premier domestic ODI tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy is all set to commence on November 23. Plenty of Indian domestic superstars will be in action for the tournament as the teams are divided into five groups. Reigning champions Saurashtra will look to leave no stone unturned to defend their title this year. Here are all the details you need to know before this season.
Dates and venues of the tournament
As mentioned, the tournament will commence on November 23. 38 teams will be divided into five groups. Groups A, B and C have eight teams each while Groups D and E have seven teams. The tournament will be played in six cities: Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ranchi, and Ahmedabad. All knockout matches will be played in Ahmedabad.
Round-robin format
Teams within a particular group will clash once in the League stage. The top two sides from all groups will advance to the next stage. Three pre-quarter-finals and four quarter-finals, two semi-finals will follow the group stage. Subsequently, the finalists will be decided to lock horns in the summit clash on December 15, 2023.
A look at the groups
Group A: Kerala, Mumbai, Odisha, Pondicherry, Railways, Saurashtra, Sikkim, Tripura. Group B: Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Services and Vidarbha. Group C: Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Karnataka and Mizoram. Group D: Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Group D: Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Baroda, Goa, and Nagaland.
Past winners of the Vijay Hazare Trophy
The tournament was started in the 1993-94 season and till 2001-02, no finals were held and teams played within their zones. The playoff finals were introduced in the 2004-05 season and have been running till today. Saurashtra defeated Maharashtra last season in the finals to lift their second title. Overall, Tamil Nadu is the most successful team with five titles.
A look at the individual stats
Delhi boy Yashpal Singh with 3,193 runs is the highest run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He used to feature for Services earlier. Karnataka's Robin Uthappa with 3,115 runs from 80 matches is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament. Saurashtra's Jaydev Unadkat was the leading wicket-taker in the 2022-23 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Tamil Nadu's Narayan Jagdeesan slammed five tons in the 2022-23 season (most).
Unique stats from the Vijay Hazare Trophy
Tamil Nadu have won the title five times but they reached the final seven times in the tournament. Bengal have won the title in the 2011-12 season but they finished runners-up five times. Prithvi Shaw slammed 827 runs in the 2020-21 season, the most runs scored by a player in a single edition. Jagadeesan's 277-run knock is the highest score in List A cricket.
