Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017

Senior Pro Dinesh Karthik produced an innings of character before Tamil Nadu disciplined bowling effort saw them beat Bengal by 37 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final at the Freoz Shah Kotla in Delhi.

This was the third time that Tamil Nadu prevailed over Bengal in the 50-over competition, having beaten them in 2008—09 and 2009—10. Tamil Nadu won the tournament in 2002-03 as well and shared the trophy with Uttar Pradesh in 2004-05. Karthik (112) was the only significant scorer for Tamil Nadu in their total of 217 in 47.2 overs as Mohammed Shami bowled with a lot of fire, taking 4 for 26. Ashok Dinda (3/36) also rattled the top order.

But the Tamil Nadu bowlers showed unbelievable discipline restricting Bengal to 180 on a pitch that didn’t have any demons. Off-spinner Washington Sundar (0/17) didn’t get wickets but kept the Bengal batsmen on tenterhooks in his eight-over spell. Rahil Shah, Aswin Crist and Mohammed Mohammed all chipped in to defend a small total. Trying to be extra cautious, Shreevats Goswami (23) consumed a lot of deliveries at the onset increasing the pressure. A poor call led to Abhimanyu Easwaran’s (1) run out.

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary (32) was bowled by his Tamil Nadu counterpart Vijay Shankar while trying to play across the line. It was a delivery that needed to be played on the front foot but he committed on the back foot. Sudeep Chatterjee (58) and Anushtup Majumdar (24) added 65 runs for the fifth wicket for Bengal but a dodgy leg before off left-arm spinner Rahil Shah started another collapse. Chatterjee then played an atrocious sweep shot, only to get bowled round the legs off left-arm spinner Sai Kishore as Bengal’s hopes ended.

Indian Premier League 2015 Auctions

The 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction was held in Bengaluru on Monday, 16 February. Just like last year, Yuvraj Singh turned out to be most expensive buy with the Delhi Daredevils acquiring him for Rs. 16 cr. The Second most expensive sold out was of Dinesh Karthik to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Rs. 10.5 cr. End of day, a total of 67 players were sold out of which 44 were Indians and 23 were overseas. Some of the big players remain unsold in this season.

Two time champions Chennai Super Kings bought one batsman Michael Hussey in 1.5cr. CSK bought two all rounders Irfan Pathan and Pratyush Singh in 1.5 cr and 10 Lakhs. CSK also bought three bowlers Rahul Sharma, Kyle Abbott, and Andrew Tye in 30 Lakhs and 20 Lakhs. Two Wicket keepers Ankush Bains and Eklavya Dwivedi were bought by CSK in 10 Lakhs. In total, CSK bought eight players, five Indians and three overseas.

Delhi Daredevils spent maximum amount of money this season. They bought 14 players this season. Yuvraj Singh was bought in 16 cr and Angelo Matthews in 7.5 cr. Indian bowlers Amit Mishra and Zaheer Khan was bought in 3.5 cr and 4 cr. They also bought South African all rounder Albie Morkel in 30 Lakhs and Travis Head in 30 Lakhs. Other than these DD bought Shreyas Iyer, Gurinder Sandhu, Jaydev Unadkat, Joseph, Marcus Stoinis, CM Gautam, Kona Bharat, and KK Jiyaz.

Kings XI Punjab bought only three players because they retained most of their old players. Murali Vijay was the only expensive pick in 3 cr. They also bought Nikhil Naik, Yogesh Gowalkar. Defending Champions Kolkata Knight Riders bought seven players this season. They bought KC Cariappa in 2.4 cr, James Neesham and Brad Hogg in 50 Lakhs. They also bought Aditya Garhwal, Sheldon Jackson, Sumit Narwal, and Vaibhav Rawal.

Mumbai Indians also edited their cart and bought Aaron Finch in 3.2 cr. Bowlers Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mitchell McClenaghan were bought in 50 Lakhs and 30 Lakhs. They also bought Aiden Blizzard, Hardik Pandya, Akshay Wakhare, Siddesh Lad, J Suchitch, and Nitesh Rana. Rajasthan Royals bought Christopher Morris in 1.4 cr. They also bought Juan Theron, Barinder Saran, Dinesh Salunkhe, Sagar Trivedi, and Pradeep Sahu.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bought some star players this time. They bought Dinesh Karthik in 10.5 cr, Darren Sammy in 2.8 cr, David Wiese in 2.8 cr, Sean Abbott in 1 cr, Adam Milne in 70 Lakhs. They also bought Sarfraz Khan, Badrinath, Jalaj Saxena, and Bhavane. Sunrisers Hyderabad team looks quite promising after buying in form players this season. They bought Trent Boult in 3.8 cr, Praveen Kumar in 2.2 cr, Kevin Peterson in 2 cr, Eoin Morgan in 1.5 cr, Ravi Bopara in 1 cr, Kane Williamson in 60 Lakhs. They also bought Laxmi Shukla, Prasanth, Hanuman Vihari, and Siddarth Kaul.

These 67 players are bought in this season. No Player from Pakistan and Sri Lanka was bought in this season. Only Angelo Mattews and Lasith Malinga made into IPL this season. Overseas players were bought mostly from England, New Zealand, Australia, and West Indies. After completing charts of teams with new players, this season is again going to be very interested. Sunrisers Hyderabad can give tough competition in this season and so Delhi Daredevils.