Karun Nair during Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 (Source:@academy_dinda/X.com)
The Vijay Hazare Trophy is India's premier 50-over tournament and the current season turned out to be quite an exciting one with plenty of senior and young players putting their hands up and delivering consistently. The stage is now set for one finale and it is Karnataka up against Vidarbha at the Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara.
Karantaka was part of Group C and they lost only one game out of seven to top the group. Vidarbha, on the other hand, have not lost a single game this season and would be itching to finish off on a high and lift their first Vijay Hazare Trophy title. Both teams have good blend of experienced and young talent, and it would be interesting to see which team delivers on the pressure day of the final.
In any tournament, there are players who catch the imagination of fans with their consistent performances and in this Vijay Hazare too, there have been players who have played a big role in their team reaching the final. They would be key players for their side again, and let's now see the three players who will be the ones to watch out in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 final.
1. Karun Nair
Karun Nair has been unstoppable in this Vijay Hazare Trophy and has broken plenty of records on the way. He is the captain of Vidarbha and in the seven innings, the right-handed batter has smashed 752 runs with a strike-rate of 125.96 and an unbelievable average of 752.
The former Karnataka batter has hit five centuries and has got out only once in seven instances. His highest score in the tournament came against Chandigarh where he hit just 163 off 107 balls and has shown great ability to accelerate his innings. He played an unbeaten knock of 88 in the semifinal too, so there are not likely to be any nerves of knockout game.
Also, given his international credentials, and familiarity with the Karnataka team, he is the one to watch out in the high-pressure environment of the final.
2. Devdutt Padikkal
The left-handed batter recently played one Test on India's tour to Australia and has been a consistent performer at the domestic level. He has played just two matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, but has already made a big impact with century in the Quarterfinal and 86 in the semifinal against Haryana.
Overall, Padikkal has played 32 List A matches with 2063 runs at an average of 82.52 with nine hundreds and 12 fifties. It shows how dominant Padikkal has been in List A cricket and with Champions Trophy and other big tournaments coming up, he would be looking to make a strong statement with another big performance in Vijay Hazare Trophy final.
3. Shreyas Gopal
The veteran all-rounder from Karnataka knows how to deliver on big stage. He is a spin-bowling all-rounder and has bagged 119 wickets in 74 matches. His batting average is 27. 74 and has 4 fifties to his name, and has made decent contributions lower down the order in this season too. He has 134 runs in six matches at an average of 44.67 and has been brilliant with the ball with 18 wickets in nine innings.
He has also played plenty of finals in his career and has the ability to deliver under pressure when the team is under the pump.