Vidarbha cricket team won the Club/State Team of the Year award at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2026 on Friday.

Usman Ghani, head coach, Akshay Wadkar, captain and Sanjay Badkas, VCA secretary were present to receive the honour.

After finishing runner-up in the 2023–24 season, Vidarbha reaffirmed its standing as a domestic powerhouse with a commanding run to the Ranji Trophy 2024–25 title, its third overall and first since 2018–19.

Led by captain Akshay Wadkar and coach Usman Ghani, Vidarbha topped the league stage across all four groups, winning six of its seven matches and drawing the other. The team remained unbeaten throughout the campaign, underlining its consistency in India’s premier domestic competition.

Vidarbha also enjoyed success in the one-day circuit, finishing runner-up in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Later in the year, it added another piece of silverware by defeating Rest of India by 93 runs to lift the Irani Cup.

The 2026 Sportstar Aces Awards are presented by Amul, co-presented by Casagrand in association with SRM Institute of Science and Technology. SBI, Christ University, Bharat Petroleum, LIC, Sports Authority of Telangana, NTPC, Indian Softball Cricket Foundation, Jaquar And Company Private Limited are associate partners. Reva University is the education partner. Blue Star is the cooling partner while Times Now is the telecast partner.

Published on Mar 13, 2026