Vijay Hazare Trophy: Shami, Hardik Pandya & Shreyas Iyer in focus as Champions Trophy approaches

India will play just three ODIs (against England from February 6-12) before the Champions Trophy kicks off on February 19.

From an Indian fan’s perspective, the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) 2024-25 might be one of the most important tournaments. The reasoning is simple. Since the domestic tournament will be played in a 50-over format, it will act as the perfect preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy. Many of the starters won’t feature in VHT, but those who aren’t part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and those who are on the fringes can make their cases with stellar performances.

Shreyas Iyer eyes fine tuning

Shreyas Iyer, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, and Arshdeep Singh were all part of the last ODI series Team India played and aren’t in Australia at the moment. For them, VHT will serve as the perfect way to fine-tune themselves for 50-over cricket, aka the Champions Trophy, as they just finished playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which is a T20 competition.

Fitness test for Shami & Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami, who would have both played in Sri Lanka earlier this year if they had been available, would like to show they are fit for ODIs. Both last played a List A game in the ODI World Cup 2023. Weirdly, both won’t play their respective VHT openers. Hardik has made himself unavailable due to personal reasons, while Shami will miss the game due to fitness issues.

Samson & Bishnoi on the fringes

Others like Ravi Bishnoi and Sanju Samson aren’t too far out either. However, Samson might not be able to make that case. Fascinatingly, he hasn’t been included in Kerala’s squad despite him being fit. Due to missing the pre-tournament camp, the Kerala Cricket Association has excluded Samson from the team. Until he’s included and plays some matches, there isn’t a chance that he’ll make a case for a return to the India cricket team’s ODI side.

The Wildcards: Mayank Yadav & Nitish Kumar Reddy

Some of the wildcard picks could also be Mayank Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Of late, all three have shined. In Nitish’s case, he’s already playing at the highest level, Test cricket, for India, and could walk straight into the team without playing in VHT.

For the speedster and mystery spinners, things might be slightly difficult. Can Mayank go unscathed for the whole tournament? If yes, he might have a decent shout. Chakaravarthy might not break in as Kuldeep Yadav as the main spinner, and then there are three all-rounders like Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel. But he recently returned to the T20I team and could make his ODI debut as well.