Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019, Standout player, biggest takeaway, best team – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Chhattisgarh and Abhimanyu Mithun

The Vijay Hazare Trophy, despite a few hiccups, ended up being a fine tournament, with Karnataka being crowned champions after subjecting Tamil Nadu to their first defeat of the campaign in the final in front of a sizeable crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, October 25. We look at some of the biggest talking points of the tournament.  

Standout player – Yashasvi Jaiswal
There were players who got more runs, but this Mumbai teenager took the tournament by storm. The 17-year-old made his debut in the opener against Chhattisgarh, and went on to rack up 3 centuries and a half-century in just six matches. His 564 runs in 6 innings at fifth in the run-scorers’ charts, but consider the fact that he played just 6 matches to the 12 by B Aparajith, the No. 4 batsman, and scoring just 34 fewer, and was just 45 short of the top-scorer Devdutt Padikkal. Mumbai have unearthed another gem.

Standout moment – Chhattisgarh’s big win over Mumbai
The tournament had a few damp squibs early on, but Chhattisgarh’s triumphant victory over Mumbai in their opener set the tone perfectly. Mumbai set their lesser-known opponents a daunting target of 318, but led by young Amandeep Khare, Chhattisgarh got over a difficult start and put on partnerships to secure victory at the very last, with just a ball remaining. It was the very definition of steadfastness, and the victory proved crucial later in the tournament, in the quarterfinals, when the match was washed out and victory-count was used to just who proceeded to the semis.

Biggest takeaway – BCCI should look at the rules again
The one thing that left a bitter taste in the mouth this tournament was how the second round of quarterfinals unfolded. Mumbai and Chhattisgarh met again, while Tamil Nadu and Punjab squared off. However, matches were rained out midway through in Alur, and the fact that victory count was used to separate the sides didn’t go down well – for instance, Tamil Nadu had 9 victories to Punjab’s 5, but consider the fact that Tamil Nadu were part of a group with ten teams, while Punjab’s had nine, meaning even if Punjab had won all their games, they still wouldn’t have progressed. The rules need to be looked at again before next season.

Room for improvement – Pitches and scheduling
Wasim Jaffer wasn’t best pleased about the matches staged in Vadodara, where an extended monsoon washed out many of the matches. So severe was the extent of the washouts that BCCI had to reschedule some of the matches to a later date. However, the rain had another effect – it meant pitches in Vadodara were undone and Jaffar believed they were dangerous to batsmen. “If Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav or any fast bowler over 140 clicks were available and bowled on these surfaces, many batsmen would’ve been injured and their seasons would’ve possibly ended,” he told ESPNCricinfo. It’s another thing for BCCI to look at.

Standout quote
“At the end, hard work paid off” – Abhimanyu Mithun’s understated reactions after taking a hat-trick on his birthday in the Vijay Hazare final against Tamil Nadu.