Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017-18, Knockout Stage- All you need to know

The ongoing sixteenth edition of the premier 50 over tournament Vijay Hazare Trophy has entered the knockouts and the bandwagon rolls to the national capital as the remaining matches are scheduled to take place in New Delhi. In the league stages, a total of 28 teams were divided into four groups of seven each and top two teams from each group have qualified for the later stages.

Baroda, Maharashtra, Andra, and Hyderabad turned out to be the table toppers in their respective groups and will look forward to outperforming other teams in the knockout stages. Further, the return of the old guard, Gautam Gambhir, who missed out the league phase with an ankle injury is all set to take the field for the knockouts. His inclusion will not only bolster Delhi’s batting line-up but will also complement the plethora of his cricketing mind with the likes of Pradeep Sangwan and Ishant Sharma.

The other inclusion for Delhi is Harsh Tyagi and Himmat Singh who will replace Manan Sharma, Kshitiz Sharma, and Subodh Bhati. On the other hand, Mumbai, who will be taking on Maharashtra in the quarter-final will see the return of Indian star Shreyas Iyer who was recently part of India’s thrilling victory over South Africa on their home soil.

The inclusion of few will also witness exclusion of other either because of their respective injuries or their poor form. Team Karnataka will miss the services of their regular skipper R Vinay Kumar who is ruled out of the quarter-final against Hyderabad with an elbow injury. In his absence, Karun Nair will continue to lead the side, as he did in the last group stage game.

Meanwhile, Baroda’s batting all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has been left out for the knockouts seeing his poor show with both bat and ball. The 35-year-old managed to score just 79 runs in six game and took one wicket. He will be replaced by Akshay Brahmbhatt. It will be interesting to see whether Akshay Brahmbhatt can do justice to his selection.

The eight qualifying teams who have relied on the belligerence of some superlative performances have taken them to the knockouts. The likes of Siddhesh Lad and Suryakumar Yadav have proved to be the pillar of Mumbai’s middle-order. On the other hand, Baroda’s Deepak Hooda has hammered enough runs to help his side win 5 out of 6 games they played. The teams will be hoping for a collective effort which could eventually help them get their hands on the coveted title.

Teams and Squads

Karnataka

Karun Nair (C), Mayank Agarwal, Samarth R, Stuart Binny, Gautam CM (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Gowtham K, Shreyas Gopal, Prasidh Krishna, Arvind S, Ronit More, Suchith J, Pradeep T, Devdutt Padikal, Sharath BR.