The Vijay Hazare Trophy is one of the most elite domestic tournaments hosted in India. The tournament was introduced to the Indian domestic cricket in 1993-94 to improve the ODI cricket. However, the team underwent several evolutions from the first phase to the current phase.

 

Earlier, till 2002, the tournament was played in the zonal setup. There were five zones- North, South, East, West, and Central. Each zone had its own states under it, which played against each other. There used to be no tournament winner. States that topped their zones were awarded the winners.

 

The knockout system was introduced in the 2002-03 season. Tamil Nadu won the first season. Tamil Nadu shares the same place as Karnataka, as they both won 5 times. Mumbai stands second with four wins.

 

Winner of VHT from 2002 to 2024

 

Season	Winner	Runners Up
2002/03	Tamil Nadu	Punjab
2003/04	Mumbai	Bengal
2004/05	TN & UP (Shared)	—
2005/06	Railways	Uttar Pradesh
2006/07	Mumbai	Rajasthan
2007/08	Saurashtra	Bengal
2008/09	Tamil Nadu	Bengal
2009/10	Tamil Nadu	Bengal
2010/11	Jharkhand	Gujarat
2011/12	Bengal	Mumbai
2012/13	Delhi	Assam
2013/14	Karnataka	Railways
2014/15	Karnataka	Punjab
2015/16	Gujarat	Delhi
2016/17	Tamil Nadu	Bengal
2017/18	Karnataka	Saurashtra
2018/19	Mumbai	Delhi
2019/20	Karnataka	Tamil Nadu
2020/21	Mumbai	Uttar Pradesh
2021/22	Himachal Pradesh	Tamil Nadu
2022/23	Saurashtra	Maharashtra
2023/24	Haryana	Rajasthan
2024/25	Karnataka	Vidarbha

 

Read also: From Shakib to Mustafizur: How KKR became the IPL’s longest home for Bangladeshi cricketers

 

Notable facts

 

Notably, 2004-05 saw the only season when the Vijay Hazare final ended in a draw. Both Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai were awarded the trophy.

 

Another unique instance happened in 2021-22 when Himachal Pradesh defeated Tamil Nadu in the tournament’s final. It was unique, as Himachal was undefeated throughout the tournament. A similar thing happened in the 2023-24 season when Haryana defeated Rajasthan in the final.

 

Individual record in Vijay Hazare Trophy

 

Ankit Bawne is the leading run-scorer in Vijay Hazare Trophy history with over 4,000 runs and also tops the century chart with 15 hundreds.

 

Narayan Jagadeesan holds the record for the highest individual score in the tournament with 277. In the 2022–23 season, he set two records by scoring the most runs in a single edition and becoming the first player to hit five consecutive centuries in one season for Tamil Nadu. Karun Nair is the only other batter to score five hundreds in a single Vijay Hazare Trophy season.

 

Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter in the 2008–09 edition with 534 runs. Returning in 2025 for Delhi, he scored 131 off 101 balls against Andhra Pradesh and became the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to reach 16,000 List A runs, achieving the feat in a record 330 innings.

 

Among bowlers, Siddarth Kaul is the only player with 150-plus wickets in the tournament. Shahbaz Nadeem owns the best bowling figures with 8 for 10 for Jharkhand against Rajasthan in 2018, while Vinay Kumar’s 28 wickets in the 2013–14 season remain the most in a single edition.