The 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy had a lot of extra buzz due to the presence of India's national superstars who had made themselves available, even if only for a few games. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma led the list of stars who featured for their domestic sides, with the veterans turning out for Delhi and Mumbai respectively.
Unfortunately, there was no live streaming available for these matches, much to the disappointment of cricket fans across the country. While the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy gets strong coverage through Star Sports and JioHotstar, the Vijay Hazare Trophy has traditionally not had much buzz in broadcasting in the last few years.
For instance, Shubman Gill will be playing his set of VHT games for Punjab with the first fixture scheduled on Saturday (January 3) against Sikkim in Jaipur at a school ground. Just like the matches featuring Kohli and Rohit, Gill's comeback game would also have no live telecast. In fact, few days ago, Yashasvi Jaiswal played for Mumbai at this very ground but there was no telecast.
The reason for lack of live streaming is a logistical one and the convenor of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) DD Kumawat explained how the preparation for telecast cannot be decided at the last moment, considering that the availability of India's national players wasn't known in advance. Which is why telecast wasn't available even at Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
“This is the prerogative of the BCCI. The fixtures were decided much in advance, and back then, there was no clarity about the availability of the international players," said Kumawat to Sportstar.
"And, with all the four venues in the city hosting Vijay Hazare Trophy games, there’s no way we could have shifted this game to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium."
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The schoolground where Punjab play Sikkim doesn't even have a sitting area for spectators and hence, this game will be played behind closed doors. Regardless, organizing live telecast at such venues are a nightmare for the streaming platforms because a lot of work goes into arranging the broadcast.
What is the solution to this? If the BCCI truly wants to enhance the standards of domestic cricket and improve its popularity, they will also have consider the broadcasting angle. Perhaps, the Board can sit down with the star players and plan out their availability in advance, if that is realistically possible. Otherwise, this pattern of India's star cricketers playing with zero telecast will be a common sight.
