Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25: Karnataka’s investment in youngsters pays quick dividends

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25: Karnataka’s investment in youngsters pays quick dividends

Investing in the future often entails a long wait, but the gestation period wasn’t too long for Karnataka as the faith reposed in its band of youngsters paid quick dividends.

The likes of R. Smaran, K.V. Aneesh, K.L. Shrijith and Abhilash Shetty rallied around their veteran skipper Mayank Agarwal to help Karnataka lift a record-equalling fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy crown and end its five-year title drought across formats.

The 21-year-old left-handed batter Smaran, playing his first season at the senior level, showcased exemplary tenacity and skill at No. 4, riding Karnataka out of choppy waters in the semifinal and final to emerge as a bright all-format prospect for the team.

His 76-run contribution in the semifinal against defending champion Haryana was crucial in what eventually turned out to be a facile 238-run chase for Karnataka, while his sparkling century in the final set the tone for a massive 348-run total in a high-scoring final against Vidarbha in Vadodara.

Smaran was joined by fellow southpaws in helping Karnataka tide over precarious situations. Fresh from India’s Test tour of Australia, Devdutt Padikkal cracked a ton in the quarterfinal against Baroda and followed it up with a vital 86 in the semis. Meanwhile, after enduring a string of low scores, Shrijith struck 78 in a 160-run alliance with Smaran in the final to tip the scales in Karnataka’s favour.

Mayank, the tournament’s second highest accumulator with 651 runs, had set the league stage on fire, plundering four centuries and a fifty but could only eke out 38 runs in three innings in the knockouts, putting the onus on an inexperienced middle-order.

Karnataka’s newly appointed No. 3, Aneesh, who also made his List A debut this season, impressed with three consecutive fifties and got off to good starts in the semis and final.

“[It] feels amazing to have won this after a while. It’s just that we turned up and won those crucial moments. [A] lot of the youngsters stepped up. We are a team in transition — four guys from this team have made their debut, and a lot of them are just playing their second season,” a relieved Mayank said after the final.

Karnataka’s chief selector, J. Abhiram, viewed the title win as a vindication of the team management’s decision to move on from the likes of Manish Pandey ahead of the season.

“I want to see where Karnataka is going to be in the next two to three years. There are a lot of talented boys, and this is the right time to give them a chance and groom them. All the youngsters have done exceedingly well, and you can see the results. There are still a lot of young guys in the Under-19 and U-23 levels, so the bench strength in Karnataka cricket is very good,” he told Sportstar.

“Smaran has impressed the most. We have seen him as a U-14 boy, and we really backed him. He got close to 700 [829] runs last year [in U-23 Col. CK Nayudu Trophy], and I am glad that he has done very well. Aneesh, he has gotten out early in his 20s and 30s, but he has the talent to do well. Last year, he almost got close to 1000 [922] runs. We have a bunch of fast bowlers — Abhilash Shetty has done very well, and Vidyadhar [Patil] has done well. We have Hardik Raj. Karnataka cricket is in very good hands now,” he added.

Karnataka had also moved on from its former skipper, Karun Nair, back in 2022, but the 33-year-old’s career gained a second wind during Vidarbha’s maiden run to the final of the 50-over competition. While shouldering captaincy duties in his second season with the side, Karun tallied a whopping 779 runs in nine matches while averaging 389.50.

However, as fate would have it, his stupendous run of five consecutive 50-plus scores — which included four centuries — ended in the final with a 31-ball 27 against his former side. That his team’s defeat in the final coincided with his non-selection in India’s squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy was a reminder that fairytales are few and far between.

With the lines between one-day and T20 cricket blurring increasingly, the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy was the second-fastest scoring season in the tournament’s history.

Runs were scored at an average of 5.20 per over, the 400-run barrier was breached four times, and leading the charge was Punjab — the 2023-24 champion of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 tournament. With two totals in excess of 400 in the season, the Punjab line-up, led by openers Prabhsimran Singh and Abhishek Sharma, ransacked bowling attacks by scoring runs at an average of 6.77 runs an over.

Prabhsimran and Abhishek struck at 128.68 and 130.44 during the tournament, respectively, further pointing to the evolution of the format. Though Punjab crashed out in the quarterfinal, its left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh used the tournament as a launchpad to earn a spot in the ICC Champions Trophy squad after emerging as the top wicket-taker, with 20 scalps in just seven games.

The tournament also served as preparation and a fitness test for India’s recovering pace ace Mohammed Shami. The 34-year-old turned out for Bengal in its last three matches, bowling 26 overs and picking five wickets at less than five runs an over to find a place in the Indian team for the white-ball series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy.

Current Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champion Mumbai’s aspirations to complete a treble suffered a setback as the Shreyas Iyer-led side crashed out in the league stage. However, the skipper enjoyed a good run, scoring 325 runs in five innings, while 17-year-old prodigy Ayush Mhatre turned heads, emerging as the team’s top run-getter (458 runs).

Even as the tournament unearthed promising young talent, it also marked the end of Varun Aaron, Rishi Dhawan and Sheldon Jackson’s storied careers. While Aaron called time on his playing career altogether, the latter two retired from domestic white-ball cricket and will head down the home stretch of their careers with the Ranji Trophy, which resumed after the frenzy of limited-overs cricket.