By Admin 
The first day of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 was entirely in the name of batsmen. In the matches played on different grounds of the country, the bowlers looked helpless and a flurry of records were created. A total of 22 batsmen scored centuries in a single day, breaking the old record of this domestic ODI tournament. Earlier, the maximum number of centuries scored in a single day was 19, but this time the figure went beyond that.
On this historic day, big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Devdutt Padikkal played brilliant innings, but the real limelight was stolen by a lesser known batsman from Odisha.
Virat Kohli’s memorable comeback
Virat Kohli returned to Vijay Hazare Trophy after 15 years and scored a tremendous century for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh. Virat played an innings of 131 runs in 101 balls. Classic cover drives and pull shots were seen in his innings. Nitish Rana supported him well by adding 77 runs and Priyansh Arya by adding 74 runs. Due to which Delhi achieved the target of 299 runs in just 37.4 overs. With this century, Virat completed 16,000 runs in List A cricket and became the batsman to achieve this milestone in the fewest innings.
Rohit Sharma’s ‘Hitman’ style
While playing for Mumbai, Rohit Sharma took a dig at the bowlers of Sikkim. He played a stormy inning of 155 runs in 94 balls, which included 18 fours and 9 sixes. Mumbai achieved the target of 237 runs in just 30.3 overs. Rohit, playing domestic ODI after a long time, was seen in full form.
Ishan Kishan’s blast
While playing for Jharkhand, Ishan Kishan scored 125 runs in just 39 balls against Karnataka. He hit 7 fours and 14 sixes and took the team to 412 runs. However, thanks to Devdutt Padikkal’s 147 runs, Karnataka easily achieved this big target.
Bihar made world record
In the plate group, Bihar created history against Arunachal Pradesh. Bihar scored 574 runs for 6 wickets, which is a new world record in List A cricket. Captain Sakibul Ghani scored a century in just 32 balls, while 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 190 runs in 84 balls. Ayush Loharuka also played an inning of 116 runs. Bihar hit 49 fours and 38 sixes in its innings.
Along with their big names, young players like Arpit Bhatewara, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dubey, Sammar Gajjar, Snehal Kauthankar, Shubham Khajuria, Kishan Lyngdoh, Aman Mokhade, Himanshu Rana, Ravi Singh, Dhruv Shourie, Firozman Jotin, Vishnu Vinod and Biplab Samantre also played excellent innings and scored centuries and created history in Vijay Hazare on the very first day.
Swastik Samal became the biggest hero of the day
Amidst all these innings, 25 year old batsman Swastik Samal from Odisha caught everyone’s attention. He scored 212 runs in 169 balls against Saurashtra. This innings included 21 fours and 8 sixes. He became the first batsman from Odisha to score a double century in List A cricket. Although his team could not win the match, Samal’s innings made him the center of discussion.
Overall, the first day of Vijay Hazare Trophy was full of records and runs, which has made the tournament even more exciting.