OPINION
Follow UsThe Vijay Hazare Trophy concluded with Himachal Pradesh lifting their maiden title. The Rishi Dhawan-led side went on to defeat a star-studded Tamil Nadu who were high on confidence, especially after the SMAT triumph.
Other than HP's brilliant run, we witnessed some other outstanding performances as well. However, there were also some known faces who failed to keep up to the expectations. We take you through some of the big cricketers who had a disappointing tournament.
Suryakumar Yadav
For someone who averaged 66.40 in the previous season, Suryakumar struggled to get going. With a tally of just 74 runs in four innings, the right-handed batter failed to cross even 15 runs on three occasions. His team Mumbai had a forgettable tournament despite being defending champions with just a single win in five games, coming against Baroda due to the VJD method after play was interrupted by rain.
Shikhar Dhawan
There have been a lot of questions over Dhawan's spot in the Indian ODI side after his exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad. The southpaw had a good chance to silence his detractors. However, he failed to get into the groove in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Dhawan's average was a dismal 11.2 in five innings with even his strike rate languishing around 50. With youngsters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer scoring heavily, the Indian opener will have stiff competition.
Shivam Dube
After showing glimpses of his talent in the IPL as well as in the SMAT season, Dube couldn't make a difference in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Leaving aside his run-a-ball 29* against Bengal, Dube wasn't quite impactful with the bat. In the limited opportunities that he got with the ball, Dube couldn't pick any wicket as well. He was even dropped for Mumbai's final game against Puducherry.
Sanju Samson
Samson's domination with the bat became a talking point in both IPL & SMAT. However, the wicketkeeper batter couldn't replicate the same form in the 50-over competition. He averaged at 19.83 with the bat in six innings without a single half-century. Even in the quarterfinals against Services, Samson was dismissed for 2 as Kerala were bowled out for just 175.
Abdul Samad
The promising all-rounder from Jammu and Kashmir didn't quite have a season to remember. Samad had an aggregate of 35 runs in five innings. The leg-spinner also bowled just two overs in the tournament. Just 20 years of age, Samad will get many more chances to prove his mettle in the future but he won't be quite pleased for missing out here.
