Vijay Hazare Trophy is a domestic 50 over one-day cricket league which is played every year. The BCCI has officially released its schedule for the 2026-27 season. This marks the return for its 34th edition, and as per the domestic calendar it will be played from 14 December 2026 to 8 January 2027.
This season’s tournament carries added weight. Regarding Vijay Hazare Trophy, it sits strategically after the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and before the second phase of the Ranji Trophy 2026-2027, giving selectors a crucial window to assess white-ball form ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Vijay Hazare Trophy Format: 38 Teams, Two Tiers
The structure of this league is quite familiar but demanding. There are 38 teams, split into 32 Elite and 6 Plate teams.
- Elite: Four groups (A, B, C, D) of eight teams. Each team plays seven round-robin matches, with the top two from every group progressing to the quarter-finals. There would be 4 quarter-finals, then 2 semi-finals, and in end final will be played.
- Plate: One group of six teams, playing five matches each, with the top two contesting the Plate Final on 27 December 2026. In short, after group stage, final is played in this division.
Knockout stage matches of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2026/2027 arrives quickly in the new year — quarter-finals on 2-3 January, semi-finals on 5-6 January, and the final on 8 January 2027 in Visakhapatnam.
Participating Teams in Vijay Hazare Trophy
Elite Groups: These are high performance teams and total number of these teams are 32. When asked in exams like SSC CGL, UPSC, Railway NTPC… the finalist and runner up asked for this category.
- Group A: Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Baroda, Railways, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andhra, Bihar.
- Group B: Saurashtra, Mumbai, Haryana, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Hyderabad, Services.
- Group C: Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Chandigarh.
- Group D: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bengal, Tripura, Odisha, Assam, Puducherry.
Plate Group: This group has low performance teams; hence its final is played separately. 6 teams participate in this group, and the top two teams play in the final. The winning team is subsequently included in the ‘Elite’ category for the following season.
- Plate Teams: Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram
Vijay Hazare Trophy Venues
This domestic league will be played at 6 venues and these are – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Ranchi, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, and Indore. Here’s breakdown of venues as per Elite and Plate groups:
- Elite group games will be hosted across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru (including the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Alur), Ranchi, and Rajkot.
- While the knockouts matches will host at Visakhapatnam,
- All Plate group competition including final is centred in Indore.
The Kohli-Rohit Question
The BCCI has reiterated its push for centrally contracted players to feature in domestic cricket when not on national duty. Reports suggest Rohit Sharma (Mumbai) and Virat Kohli (Delhi) could appear, workload permitting. Also, other star players like Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Shami, KL Rahul can be seen playing this league. For fans, that possibility alone makes this season unmissable.
How to Watch
Star Sports has the broadcasting rights to telecast Vijay Hazare Trophy Live on TV. Hence you can watch this league on Star Sports TV Network, while the Smart TV & Mobile users, can stream the matches via the JioHotstar app or hotstar.com from 9:00 AM IST onwards.
Note: Due to simultaneous fixtures, only selective group stage matches will be aired on TV. As there are up to 19 matches per day, only the most highly sought-after or significant matches will be covered and broadcast by the broadcaster.
For confirmed fixtures, squads, live scores, and Vijay Hazare Trophy points tables, the BCCI website, ESPNcricinfo, and Cricbuzz are the best and trusted options that you can visit to know more.
Are you excited for Vijay Hazare Trophy 2026-2027? Whom you are supporting in this season? Please let us know in the comments and don’t forget to share the full schedule with others on social media.
