Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019: 3 teams that can win the competition
The Vijay Hazare Trophy, India's premier domestic 50-over competition will be the first limited-overs tournament this season in which players across the country will represent their respective states.
The 2019 edition started on the 24th of September and is slated to go on for a month until the grand finale, which is scheduled to take place on the 25th of October.
This season, the 38 teams in the competition have been divided into 4 groups. While the Elite teams will be part of group A and B, the lower division teams have been placed in Group C and D.
The format for qualification to the knockout stages of the tournament will be different in this edition. Only the winner of Group D will progress to the next stage while the top 2 teams in Group C will enter the quarterfinals. Considering both Group A and B together, the top 5 teams with the highest number of points will qualify, thereby filling the 8 quarterfinal spots.
Mumbai won the title last year, courtesy the performances of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane. Prithvi and Ajinkya will not play for Mumbai this edition and considering the squads of all other teams that have been announced for the tournament, here are 3 sides that look the most likely to lift the trophy.
#3 Tamil Nadu
After winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy three seasons ago, Tamil Nadu, the most successful side in the history of the tournament will look to add yet another trophy to its cabinet in this edition and start their domestic season on a high.
They have a good team in place comprising a mix of India hopefuls, good performers in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and Ranji Trophy regulars.
The side will be led by Dinesh Karthik, who will have a point to prove at the fag end of his career while Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar are the other players in the Indian setup who will don the Tamil Nadu jersey.
Last season's highest run-getter, Abhinav Mukund will yet again open the innings for Tamil Nadu while N Jagadeesan and TNPL hero, Hari Nishanth will be the other players who will take care of this strong batting line-up.
Consistent performer, Baba Aparajith is likely to be given the responsibility to anchor the innings for his team.
The team has a varied bowling attack with T Natarajan and K Vignesh who are likely to be a part of the playing XI. Murugan Ashwin will lead the spin-bowling attack and will be joined by Sai Kishore in this department.
Overall, this team looks balanced and they would hope to do well.
Also See - Vijay Hazare Schedule 2019