Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has slammed the selection of venues for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26, stating the huge runs being scored in the tournament.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaif said: “What I am seeing is a big mismatch. I understand why they want to take the tournament to smaller places and smaller cities, because that brings in crowds. I can understand why the Vijay Hazare Trophy is being held there. But if you want to pick players from this tournament, it is not showing the real picture. The tournament is not reflecting things accurately, especially for bowlers. You will find plenty of high run-scorers, players scoring hundreds off 30 balls and all that. Batting is dominating.”

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“But you need bowlers. If Bumrah does not play, who is the replacement? Tell me. You can say Arshdeep Singh has come in, but apart from that, there is no long line of bowlers waiting. There is a long line when it comes to batters. You have plenty of batters. But the 2024 World Cup was won by bowlers, the 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev was won by bowlers, and the 2011 World Cup under MS Dhoni was won by bowlers. Sri Lanka was restricted to 270 at the Wankhede, and the bowlers won that match,” he again added.

“Trophies are won by bowlers. So what I am seeing is that somewhere in domestic cricket, especially in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, bowlers are slowly disappearing. Batters are giving us a wrong signal that batting standards are extremely high. But I feel that because of the small grounds and pitches, as I mentioned earlier, that perception is misleading,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.

The edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy also featured Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who played two matches each for their respective domestic teams as well.