The Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 league stage came to a close on Sunday after several rounds of action culminated with 10 teams qualifying for the knockouts.
While several heavyweights including Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Saurashtra missed out on the knockouts, a range of veteran stars and youngsters displayed their best in the tournament.
CHECK OUT: Full Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024/25 Knockout Schedule
Here is a look at the top performers from the group stage:
Having moved on from Karnataka aftr 11 years last season, Karun Nair was elevated as captain for Vidarbha specifically for this tournament. Signalling a brilliant second win, the 33-year-old Nair pulverized oppositions while batting at No. 3, leading Vidarbha to a quarter-final berth with a spotless record, winning all six matches. Batting in five of these games, Nair listed a new List A world record as he went unbeaten across four games, making 542 runs before being dismissed in his fifth match.
Nair’s streak reads: 112* v J&K, 44* v Chhattisgarh, 163* v Chandigarh, 111* v Tamil Nadu and 112 v Uttar Pradesh.
With four of his seven List A hundreds being registered in the tournament, Nair has made heads turn again, eight years after his last national appearance.
Mayank Agarawal
Leading the Karnataka side, Mayank Agarawal has struggled for consistency since the start of the domestic season. However, the out-of-favour India batter made a tremendous turnaround to book Karnataka’s quarter-final spot this week. After a couple of quiet outings, the 33-year-old flicked a switch to emerge as the leading run-getter after the group stage, with 643 runs, including four centuries, in seven innings .
Mayank’s last 5 VHT scores: 116* v Nagaland today, 69 v Saurashtra, 124 v Hyderabad, 100* v Arunachal, 139* v Punjab.
Ayush Mhatre
Mumbai’s latest teen sensation Ayush Mhatre continued his impressive run in his maiden domestic season as he filled in for Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order. Having made his List A debut in the tournament, Mhatre came close to a century on debut before falling on 78 against Karnataka. However, the stylish right-hander did not have to wait long. He whipped up a massive 181 against Nagaland in only his fifth outing before ending Mumbai’s campaign with a blistering 148 off 98 balls.
Also chipping in with seven wickets, Mhatre’s first ton made him the youngest (17y 268d) batter in the world to record a List A 150, breaking the record of his Mumbai teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal. Mhatre’s campaign ended with 458 runs in seven innings with a whopping 135.50 strike rate – the best among the top six run-getters so far this edition.
With the Champions Trophy fast-approaching, left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh has perhaps done enough to make his case for a spot in the Indian squad with a fine performance in the VHT league-stage. Arshdeep, who recently became India’s most successful T20I pacer, leads the charts with 17 wickets in six matches.
Having only featured in eight ODIs, Arshdeep took the spotlight when he tormented a stacked Mumbai line-up with a five-wicket burst (5/38), helping Punjab to a massive win. The 25-year-old’s wickets included his India teammates Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav whom he dismissed for a duck. With an economy measure of 5.53, Arshdeep finished the group stage on the back off successive four wicket-hauls against Hyderabad (4/50) and Puducherry (4/19).
After representing India in the South Africa T20Is and smashing the fastest T20 century by an Indian in 28 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Abhishek Sharma remained true to his methods even in the 50-over format. The Punjab captain propelled his side into the knockouts with four successive fifty-plus scores after demolishing opposition attacks with belligerent stands alongside his opening partner, Prabhsimran Singh.
Abhishek relished New Year’s Eve as he zoomed to his career-best score of 170 in only 96 balls with 22 fours and eight sixes. The dashing southpaw has aggregated 448 runs in seven innings, ranking sixth on the charts.
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