Ranji-Vid aim to keep the momentum

Meet Chhattisgarh in their second Ranji Trophy match at VCA Jamtha Stadium

By Paritosh Pramanik

CONFIDENCE adorned the faces of Vidarbha players as they slugged it out at the nets ahead of their second Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh, on Monday morning. A cracking start to the season has given their campaign a fillip but they surely would be wary of complacency when they enter the VCA Jamtha field on Tuesday.
The net session and an extended session for spinners Akshay Wakhare and Karn Sharma gave many clues. However, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal refused to read much into the ‘exclusive session’.
In the middle, a grass cutter was pressed into service as Vidarbha players and coach ‘inspected’ the 22-yard strip very closely. On the face of it, a spin friendly track awaits Chhattisgarh at Jamtha.
“Nothing should be read into Akshay and Karn’s separate bowling session. They both wanted to bowl and it is an old practice so,” Fazal told ‘The Hitavada’ after the session.
With a huge innings and 117 runs win under their belt, Vidarbha are the favourites on paper. If that win over Punjab was not enough, the home team has got a boost in the form of India pacer Yadav and leg-spinner Sharma. The duo’s availability has given the captain and coach a problem of plenty to choose the best XI.
“It is a good healthy competition. Every player has performed to his ability in the last game and with inclusion of the two premier bowlers in the squad our attack has got more teeth,” said Fazal.
Rajneesh Gurbani is set to make way for Umesh while Apoorv Wankhade might be rested for Karn.
Vidarbha have also included left-arm pacer Shrikant Wagh in the 16-member squad. Wagh is coming back from an injury and bowled in the nets under the watchful eyes of Subroto Banerjee.
Chhattisgarh will have to deal with one of the finest Vidarbha bowling attacks. Siddhesh Neral and Lalit Yadav have showed what they are capable of, bundling Punjab out for a paltry 161 in first innings. Wakhare and Karnewar, too, spun a web sharing all 10 second innings wicket. With the inclusion of Umesh and Karn, Vidarbha’s bowling will be firing on all cylinders.
The big win last week has also showed Vidarbha’s batting prowess. Fazal looked in touch while centurion R Sanjay would be eager to take the form ahead. Another centurion of the last game Ganesh Satish would also like to continue his touch.
The top and middle-order is solid with veteran Wasim Jaffer, Jitesh Sharma and all-rounder Akshay Karnewar holding places.
On the other hand, for Mohd Kaif’s team, it will be tough to get back into the groove after their innings and 160 runs defeat to Bengal.
Chhattisgarh’s batting failed miserably against Bengal with only Ashutosh Saxena posting a half century. Though Abhishek Chouhan hit a fine 115 in the second innings, it was not enough to save his side from a humiliating defeat.
“We are not taking any team lightly be it Chhattisgarh or any other team. The standard of Ranji Trophy and First Class matches has improved a lot. There is no easy team in the tournament. We will give 100 per cent in every match,” Fazal sounded caution.
“We have set our sights much higher as a team and also as individuals. For that we will have to perform to the best of our abilities throughout the season,” Fazal concluded.
Teams (From) 
Vidarbha: Faiz Fazal (C), Ganesh Satish, Wasim Jaffer, Karn Sharma, Apoorv Wankhade, Umesh Yadav, Akshay Wakhare, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Ramaswamy Sanjay, Rajneesh Gurbani, Lalit Yadav, Aditya Sarwate, Akshay Karnewar, Siddhesh Neral, Shrikant Wagh.
Chhattisgarh: Mohd Kaif (C), Sahil Gupta, Rishabh Tiwari, Amandeep Khare, Abhimanyu Chauhan, Ashutosh Singh, Manoj Singh (wk), Jatin Saxena, Sumit Ruikar, Shubham Singh, Shubham Agarwal, Pankaj Rao, Mohd Shahnawaz Hussain, Vishal Kushwaha, Saurabh Khairwar, Prateek Raj.

In the heart of India, on top of World

Spinners, Rohit give India their No 1 ranking back

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Oct 1

IT WAS his 14th ball of the innings. Rohit Sharma, struggling to get going, went for a heave-ho. The resultant inside edge climbed up but ended just short of the stretched Pat Cummins. All at sea, Rohit was searching for his cool nerve. Ajinkya Rahane, the non-striker, immediately provided it with a confidence boosting pep talk. Those words helped the flamboyant opener break shackles. He scored a fabulous 125, guided India to a thumping seven-wicket win and gave them the World No 1 ranking back.
Early nerves was the story in the Australian innings too. David Warner and Aaron Finch started off with a flyer but the cooling effect came from the Indian spinners, led by Axar Patel (3/38). Aussies made just 242 on the flat deck and India cantered home in 42.5 losing three wickets.
Just after his frustrating suicide attempt, Rohit carved out two exquisite boundaries in the next two deliveries to open his account. Scoring his first run from the 15th delivery, he soon changed gears and scored his 50 from just 37 deliveries and 100 from next 94.
Rahane (61), at the other end, too, showed his class. His drives were as smooth as butter. Defending a meagre total, Australian bowlers were disciplined but Rohit and Rahane were equally talented to pick runs as India scored runs without any dent. Steve Smith’s introduction of spinners too did not change thing much as the contest turned into a lop-sided Indian win.
Rohit hit Travis Head for a straight six and then again danced down to dispatch the ball to covers to race to 49. He completed his half century from 52 deliveries. Rahane, too, completed his half century a couple of overs later with a boundary off James Faulkner.
The duo added a century-run opening wicket stand for the third time in the series, the other two being at Indore and Bengaluru. The 124-run partnership was finally broken in the 23rd over by Coulter-Nile who managed to hit Rahane’s pads in front of the wicket. Rahane went for a referral but in vain. 
Rohit continued to toy with the Australian bowlers and hit five sixes in his innings. The 124 runs partnership was enough for India to cruise for another thumping win. Captain Virat Kohli joined Rohit and the two played without taking any risk. They picked ones and twos and fetched occasional boundaries to keep the scorers busy.
Rohit completed his 6,000 runs in ODIs with a tap towards third man when he was on 92. He competed his first century in Nagpur with a thumping six over long on off Coulter-Nile. The Nagpur-born opener’s century was studded with 10 boundaries and three sixes. Kohli played the second fiddle. His first boundary came after 49 deliveries. Rohit’s entertaining innings ended in the 40th over when he tried to clear the long on boundary only to give a simple catch to Coulter-Nile off Adam Zampa. Kohli followed soon in the next over as he too tried to clear the fence but was caught by Stoinis off Zampa at long off.
Kedar Jadhav (5*) and Manish Pandey (11*) completed the formalities with 7.1 overs to spare.
Earlier, the troika of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Kedar Jadhav, strangulated Australian batsmen to restrict at 242. In form spinners Yadav (10-1-48-0), Patel (10-0-38-3) and Jadhav (10-0-48-1) bowled a tight length to make it difficult for the Australians. While Jadhav’s side-arm deliveries were difficult for Aussies to read, Axar and Kuldeep used variations to frustrate them.
Though Kuldeep was unlucky to get any wicket, he maintained pressure which helped the other bowlers strike. Warner (53) and Finch (32) started well adding 66 runs for the first wicket. But after their partnership was broken in the 12th over by Hardik Pandya, none other showed intent barring Head (42) and Stoinis (46) who added 87 runs for the 5th wicket.
Patel broke Head-Stoinis partnership disturbing the furniture of the former in the 43rd over which pushed the Australians on the backfoot.
Jadhav got the wicket of Australian captain Smith. Smith tried to sweep him but was caught half-crouched as the ball crashed onto his pads.
Bumrah, who was clobbered for 34 runs in his first four overs, came back strongly in his next two spells to concede only 19 runs from six overs as Australians ended at 242 runs which India knocked off easily.