Vijay Hazare Trophy: Gill flops in first outing in six years, Iyer smashes 82 (53) in comeback game after injury

Shubman Gill fails on VHT return

India Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill turned out for Punjab in their clash against Goa in Jaipur, but didn't make a sizeable contribution. Fielding first, Punjab restricted Goa to 211, with leg-spinner Mayank Markande picking up three wickets for 29 runs in his eight overs. India seamer Arshdeep Singh also featured in the bowling line-up, picking up 2-26 in six overs.

Gill came out to open the batting for Punjab alongside captain Prabhsimran Singh, but after hitting two boundaries, he was dismissed for 11 off 12 balls. Vasuki Koushik picked up his wicket.

This was Gill's first Vijay Hazare Trophy outing in six years, having last played in the tournament in September 2019. He was touted to play the previous round itself, but wasn't able to due to food poisoning.

Gill made his VHT debut in the 2016-17 season for Punjab against Vidarbha, also making 11 in that game. At 17 years of age then, Gill smashed a hundred the next day - playing just his second List A match. Since then, he has forged a prolific List A (and ODI) career.

Currently, Gill is set to lead India in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, starting from January 11.

Shreyas Iyer stars in comeback game

Shreyas Iyer, the designated vice-captain of the ODI side before he was injured during the Australia tour last year, had a much better return than Gill. Playing his first match since the injury, which required him to undergo surgery, Iyer smashed 82 off 53 balls for Mumbai against Himachal Pradesh.

Unlike Gill, Iyer was leading his side in the shortened 33-over encounter, and forged impressive partnerships with Musheer Khan for the third wicket (82) and Suryakumar Yadav (65) for the fourth wicket. Mumbai eventually made 299-9 in 33 overs.

How did other India regulars fare?

This round saw many India regulars turn up for their respective state sides. KL Rahul batted at No.5 for Karnataka, but could only make 25 (28) after Mayank Agarwal (100) and Devdutt Padikkal (91) set up the innings at the top.

For Uttar Pradesh, Dhruv Jurel made 56 (61), and Rinku Singh was retired hurt on 57 (30) against Vidarbha. Kuldeep Yadav took 3-52 from his 10 overs.

Ishan Kishan couldn't repeat his heroics from earlier in the season for Jharkhand, as he was dismissed for 9 (7) in a run-chase of 278 against Madhya Pradesh. Jharkhand did manage to win the game by two wickets though, without Kishan's contribution.

Tilak Varma led Hyderabad against Bengal and made 34 (45) from No.3, but it was rookie USA-born batter Aman Rao who stole the limelight with a brilliant double hundred in just his third List A match. For Bengal, Mohammed Shami took 3-70 off his 10 overs, while Mukesh Kumar (0-55 in 7) and Akash Deep (0-78 in 8) were unsuccessful. Shahbaz Ahmed had a productive outing, picking up 1-57 from 10 overs and making an unbeaten hundred from No.6 even as Bengal lost the match comprehensively.

Washington Sundar opened the batting for Tamil Nadu but could only manage 9 (30) against Tripura. He did bowl a miserly spell of 1-36 from his 10 overs, however. For Kerala, Sanju Samson made 11 in a run-chase of 248 against Puducherry.

Premier Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja batted at No.4 for Saurashtra and made 36* (31), before bowling 10 overs for 1-48. Yashasvi Jaiswal was out for 15 for Mumbai against HP, while Sarfaraz Khan made a rapid 21 (10). T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav couldn't go past 24 (18) from No.5, while Shivam Dube played a similar cameo of 20 (15).

Chasing a small target of 167 against Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad made 22 (15) batting at No.5.