Jharkhand - Vijay Hazare Trophy Champions 2010-11

With the World Cup going on, there was hardly any focus on the Vijay Hazare Trophy (the dometic one-day championship) going on. Jharkhand beat Gujarat by a massive margin of 159 runs to lift the trophy, the first ever domestic title win for the state. This has been a truly magnificent performance by Sarabh Tiwary and company. They had won all 4 preliminary matches, then beat Mumbai in the Quarter-finals, Vidarbha in the semis and now Gujarat in the finals. This performance shows that cricket has truly spread across India.

Some of the credit for this win does go to MS Dhoni, the first star cricketer from Jharkhand. His India duties may have prevented him from playing for the state now but he has been the real inspiration for this team. Saurabh Tiwary has already made his India debut. Ishank Jaggi is fast becoming one of the more consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit. A few others like Varun Aaron have got IPL contracts. The best part of this team is that the cricketers are entirely home grown and not hired professionals from other states.

Hoping this is the first of the many, many trophies to come.