5 best performances from Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 ft. Deepak Hooda & Yuzvendra Chahal

The Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 came to a scintillating conclusion on Saturday, December 16 with Haryana winning their maiden title by defeating Rajasthan in a thriller by 30 runs.

Defending 287, Haryana had to withstand a spectacular recovery from the Rajasthan duo of Abhijeet Tomar and Kunal Singh Rathore to pull off the victory.

The month-long tournament witnessed some terrific individual performances and records broken with bat and ball. While Arslan Khan from Chandigarh finished as the leading run-scorer with 508 runs at an average of 84.66, Tamil Nadu's Varun Chakravarthy led the way among the bowlers with 19 scalps.

It is also worth mentioning that a consistent showing during the Vijay Hazare Trophy could go a long way in earning certain players national selection, considering the transition phase Team India is entering in the ODI arena following the recent World Cup.

Picking the five best-combined performances with bat and ball is never easy when there are umpteen of them to choose from. Yet, the situation and significance of the game, among other factors, helped ascend a few over the other equally appealing ones.

Without further delay, here are the five best performances from the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023:

# 5 Yuzvendra Chahal - 6/26 vs. Uttarakhand

Chahal is back in the Indian ODI squad thanks to his sensational VHT season.

While there was an eight-wicket haul and several six-wicket hauls during the tournament, Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/26 holds much significance.

A few days after the ODI World Cup ended, Chahal showed what Team India may have missed in the final. In Haryana's tournament opener against Uttarakhand, the 33-year-old produced incredible figures of 6/26 in his ten overs.

Apart from dismissing Uttarakhand skipper Jiwanjot Singh, Chahal also picked up the crucial wickets of Swapnil Singh and Aditya Tare to restrict them to a below-par 207.

Haryana chased the target down in only 45 overs with six wickets in hand to kickstart their title run dominantly. Chahal's performance was also a timely reminder of his prowess to the selectors, leading to his selection for the ODI leg of the ongoing South African tour.

He finished his campaign with 18 wickets in eight games at an average of under 15 and an economy of 3.70, including figures of 4/37 in Haryana's quarter-final win over Bengal.

# 4 Ankit Kumar - 102 (102) vs. Bengal, Quarter-final

Haryana's destined maiden title was hanging by the proverbial thread in their thrilling quarter-final battle against Bengal.

Chasing 226 on anything but an easy wicket at Rajkot, they were two down with less than 15 on the board. However, opening batter Ankit Kumar remained unflustered and scored a masterful run-a-ball 102 with 12 fours and three maximums.

With no other batter reaching even a score of 40, the 26-year-old carried the batting under extreme pressure of a knockout game to help Haryana win by four wickets in the 46th over. He shared a crucial 126-run partnership with skipper Ashok Maneria, who scored 39 off 71 deliveries.

The youngster also scored a sensational 91-ball 88 in the grand finale against Rajasthan and finished the season as the sixth leading run-scorer with 453 runs at an average of over 50.

# 3 Siddarth Kaul - 5/50 and 29(28) vs. Tamil Nadu

Kaul ripped through Tamil Nadu's top-order.

Siddarth Kaul made a resounding statement to franchises ahead of the upcoming IPL auction with a Vijay Hazare Trophy season to remember. While he finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker in a four-way tie, the 33-year-old took the least number of matches.

Thanks to Punjab not qualifying for the knockouts, Kaul played only six games and picked up 19 wickets at an average of 15.10, including two fifers.

Among several outstanding performances, his outing against a strong Tamil Nadu outfit stood out for its all-round value.

Coming in to bat at No.10, Kaul scored a valuable 29 off 28 balls to resurrect Punjab's innings from 184/8 to a final score of 251. The energetic medium-pacer then produced a spell for the ages to stun the much-vaunted Tamil Nadu batting lineup.

He dismissed some of the biggest names in Indian domestic cricket - Sai Sudharsan, Narayan Jagadeesan, Baba Aparajith, and Vijay Shankar in an extraordinary first spell. If that wasn't enough damage, Kaul returned to complete his five-wicket haul by removing the dangerous Dinesh Karthik for 93 to seal the deal.

Kaul finished with figures of 5/50 as Punjab upset Tamil Nadu by 76 runs at Mumbai.

# 2 Deepak Hooda - 180(128) vs. Karnataka, Semi-final

Undoubtedly the knock of the tournament and perhaps one of the greatest in Vijay Hazare Trophy history, Deepak Hooda single-handedly carried Rajasthan to victory in the semi-final against Karnataka.

Chasing 283, Rajasthan looked all but done at 1/2 and later 23/3 during their run chase. However, the 28-year-old had other ideas, as he stunned the four-time Vijay Hazare Trophy champions with a blistering 180 off 128 deliveries, including 19 fours and five sixes.

The Haryana-born cricketer stitched a magnificent 255-run fourth-wicket partnership with Karan Lamba. Hooda reached his century off only 85 deliveries and kept the runs flowing before eventually being dismissed for 180.

Thanks to the skipper's heroics, Rajasthan knocked off the target in 43.4 overs and booked their place in the final.

Hooda broke several records during his remarkable innings, including the highest List-A score by a Rajasthan batter and the highest score in a one-day game against Karnataka.

It was also the fourth-highest score in a Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout game and the highest in a semi-final. Hooda finished as the third-leading run-scorer of the tournament with 480 runs at an average of 68.57 and a strike rate of 105.72.

# 1 Shashank Singh - 152(113) and 5/20 vs. Manipur

Shashank Singh achieved a magnifecent double during the Manipur clash.

It needed a historic performance from someone for Deepak Hooda's semi-final masterclass to not be on top of the list, and Chhattisgarh's Shashank Singh produced just that.

In the side's fourth game of the 2023 Vijay Hazare Trophy against Manipur, the 32-year-old did something very few players have done at any level and in any format of the sport. Shashank scored a scintillating 152 off 113 deliveries, with Chhattisgarh struggling at 16/3 to propel them to a massive 342/6 in 50 overs.

The seasoned campaigner then rolled his arm over with the ball and picked up a five-wicket haul to finish with 5/20 in five overs. Shashank achieved the rare feat of scoring a 150 and taking five wickets in a List A game, making him the first Indian and the third overall (Alvin Kallicharran and Mike Procter being the others) to the feat.

He scored a 154 in his next outing against Vidarbha, but it went in vain as Chhattisgarh suffered a heartbreaking nine-run defeat. Nevertheless, Shashank finished with 450 runs at an average of 75 in the tournament, making him the seventh leading scorer.

2023 Vijay Hazare Trophy Honorable Mentions

Arpit Guleria - 8/50 in 9 overs vs. Gujarat

AR Bawne - 167 off 105 vs. Manipur

Sumit Kumar - 3/34 in 6 overs vs. Rajasthan, VHT Final

Baba Indrajith - 103* off 98 vs. Mumbai, Quarter-final

Mahipal Lomror - 122* off 114 vs Kerala, Quarter-final