It is only the start of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 202526 season, yet it has already provided one of the most bang-bucking days in domestic Indian cricket. When the fans were keenly following centuries of such giants as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the true action was taking place in the total shadows of the limelight Bihar vs Arunachal Pradesh match.
Whatever occurred there was not exactly an ordinary List A game but more like a non-stop action film. Records were broken and three Bihari based players made the match a historic batting show.
The initial shock was provided by Vaibhav Suryavanshi who was 14 years old. It amazed all as the teenage prodigy ran to a century in only 34 balls with fearless desire far beyond his age. Bihar captain Sakibul Gani entered the room before bowlers could manage to regain their senses and took the story altogether.
The young (26) Sakibul Gani, the head of Bihar, delivered an innings that everybody will be talking about. As the number five batsman, he made a ferocious attack as soon as he got to the crease. Bihar were already cruising at 391 3 in 39.3 overs at that point, but Gani made sure that there was not a moment of slackness in the momentum.
What came next was total destruction. Gani made the 100 in only 32 balls, adding his name to the Indian List A history. Earlier records that were held by Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Suryavanshi were abandoned in a few minutes. That knock saw Sakibul Gani realise a List A hundred in the shortest time.
His record 128 was made on a mere 40 hits including 10 boundaries and 12 huge sixes. The fact that the strike rate was 320 was an expression of how powerless the Arunachal Pradesh bowlers appeared. It was smacking of power of the best kind, and well and decisively done.
Ishan Kishan even made his own fireworks to Jharkhand which added another interesting twist to the day. He also hit a century in 33 balls and it was a rare event that three fastest hundreds were made by players who belonged to the same state. Kishan acted as the representative of Jharkhand, but being born in Bihar, this coincidence was even more impressive.
Nevertheless, in spite of this historic performance, the path of Sakibul Gani has so many ironies. The man who is currently in the fast- Indian List A century will not have his name in the list of IPL 2026 since he was not sold at the auction. His Vijay Hazare heroics can easily transform the perception of franchises toward him in the future considering he has completed close to 1,000 List A runs and more than 2,000 runs in first-class cricket.
At this moment, the Vijay Hazare Trophy has the initial memorable book of the season, the one in which Bihar has not only won a match, but it has done so with a punch, daring young men, and a captain who turned every 60 minutes at the crease into pure anarchy.
