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Who Is Vijay Hazare? The Man Behind India's Elite Fifty-Over Competition

Abhinav Tyagi

Vijay Hazare- (Source:NitinGodbole)Vijay Hazare- (Source:NitinGodbole)

On Saturday, December 21, the 32nd edition of Vijay Hazare kickstarted with 38 teams locking horns against each other. Haryana are the defending champions, and it is a crucial tournament for the youngsters as this BCCI-organised annual domestic ODI event could serve as a trial ground ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

While the teams are battling out and the players are sweating hard, let's look and shed light on the man himself, Vijay Hazare, whom the tournament is named after by the BCCI.

Who Is Vijay Hazare? 

Vijay Samuel Hazare, born on March 11, 1915, made his India debut in June 1946 and featured in 30 Test matches in his seven-year-long Indian career. He boasts an impressive record of 2192 runs, averaging 47, which features seven hundred and nine fifties. 

Hazare also boasts an impressive average of 50+ in first-class cricket with 60 centuries and 10 double centuries Hazare, who was touted as one of the finest batters of his time, held the record for scoring the first triple-century in first-class cricket.

Hazare boasts several records in his lavish career as he was the first Indian to reach 1000 Test runs and also the first to score three consecutive Test centuries. 

It is also worth noting that Hazare also captained India from 1951-53, and led the country to their first-ever Test win in 1951 against England in the Madras Test, where the subcontinent side registered a victory by an innings. 

Why Did BCCI Name It the Vijay Hazare Trophy?

It is worth noting that the tournament that started in 1983 as a U-19 domestic tournament was changed to the Ranji One-Day Cup before finally renaming it to Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2007 to honour Vijay Hazare's legacy, who passed away in 2004.