Newsmaker: Aman Mokhade, the hero behind Vidarbha’s purple run 

The name Aman Mokhade may not immediately ring a bell, but the soft-spoken 25-year-old opener has thus far been the biggest newsmaker on the Indian domestic circuit this season. Mokhade became only the third cricketer in the history of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to score 800-plus runs in a single season to help Vidarbha win the trophy in Bengaluru on Sunday, with the state proving to be consistency personified over the last few years.

Ponder this: Vidarbha won the Ranji Trophy in 2024-25, followed by the Irani and Duleep trophies (Central Zone boasted seven players from Vidarbha), and then the Vijay Hazare Trophy. As India were on course to receive a drubbing from New Zealand in the final ODI on Sunday, a quietly efficient Vidarbha rode a century from Atharva Taide to stop Saurashtra 38 runs short in the final.  

‘’The belief that I kept in myself worked for me. There is a lot of competition in the team and I had missed some chances, but I tried to do the best that I could,’’ Mokhade said as he missed out on a big one in the final, falling for 33. His aggregate of 814 runs meant Vidarbha had a back-to-back top-scorer in the Vijay Hazare this season, with Karun Nair finishing with 779 last season.  

As the Vijay Hazare final began at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Sunday, Aman was only 19 short of the 800-run landmark. He kept his date with it during the 11th over of Vidarbha’s innings, joining an elite list featuring Prithvi Shaw and Narayan Jagadeesan.

Out-of-favour India batter Shaw was the first cricketer to score 800 runs in one season when he amassed 827 runs in eight matches for Mumbai in 2020-21. However, Jagadeesan — a wicketkeeper-batter from Tamil Nadu — bettered the mark the very next year with 830 runs in eight matches.

Mokhade, who equalled the record of scoring the most centuries (five) in one edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday, had a chance to break Jagadeesan’s record on Sunday, but was out after scoring 33 from 45 balls.

‘’I was lucky as I made my T20 debut at 21 and I realised the things necessary for success at this level. In the very first year, I realised that I would require a solid base without making too many changes. I play according to the format and have worked on that for last two years,’’ he said in an interview. Such adaptability has been working well for him so far, but the next big leap to the Indian squad could be a tough journey.