By Paritosh Pramanik
THIS is the crucial stage before ‘half-time’ for Vidarbha. A demoralising defeat in their opener at the hands of Gujarat followed by a morale-boosting victory over Haryana and a tame draw against Odisha, Vidarbha Ranji Trophy team has tasted everything that could be served on platter, that too in their own den.
After the three mixed results, Vidarbha face a mighty Karnataka in their last outing at home from November 21 at Jamtha Stadium and they would love to make most of the home conditions.
It would be an interesting battle between the two sides as both have gained strength with arrival of their respective India players. Karnataka got a Robin Uthappa boost, who missed the first two games due to hamstring strain while India pacer Umesh Yadav is back after being a bench warmer during the two-Test Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series against the West Indies.
Uthappa showed no signs of discomfort in the nets on Wednesday as he batted for more than 25 minutes under the watchful eyes of coach J Arun Kumar.
For the hosts, Yadav’s return will give more power to their bowling attack. Yadav would be supported by in-form seamer Shrikant Wagh. The southpaw has so far taken 12 wickets from three games. Looking at the 22-yard strip, which hardly has any green on it, it seems Vidarbha would opt for an extra batsman. Yadav and Wagh would be the opening bowlers for sure with Amol Junghade likely to be the third
seamer.
Azhar Sheikh, who failed with both bat and ball against Odisha, in all probability, would lose his place.
Lanky spinner Akshay Wakhare, who took eight wickets against Haryana, is likely to be the specialist spinner along with Sumit Ruikar.
Opener Faiz Fazal, with a century under his belt against Odisha, is the highest scorer for Vidarbha in three matches with 303 runs. He will have a new opening partner in wicket-keeper Amol Ubarhande who, too, looked confident in the last two matches.
“Amol has done well and we would stick to the same opening pair,” said coach Sairaj Bahutule.
A lot would depend on professionals Hemang Badani and Rashmi Ranjan Parida. They had a forgettable start to their season but have shown what they are capable of in the next two games. Both scored half centuries in both innings against Haryana and Odisha.
“It’s good to have seniors like them (Badani and Parida). We three are experienced and are trying to give as much as we can to these youngsters,” remarked Bahutule.
As for Karnataka, it’s a big boost with India discard Uthappa coming back. But they would miss last game’s centurion Stuart Binny who has an injured right knee. With R Vinay Kumar doing India duties, Karnataka would be led by 27-year-old wicketkeeper Chidhambaram Muralidharen Gautam.
In first two matches, Mayank Agrawal impressed with a composed 90 in his debut game against Jharkhand.
They have a strong middle-order with Manish Pandey, Kunal Kapoor and Gautam himself in fine touch. The bowling department would be spearheaded by medium pacers Kotarangada Prabhu Appanna and S Aravind.
For Vidarbha, it all depends on how they take advantage of home conditions. The result of this game would evaluate where they stand at ‘half-time’.
Teams (from): Vidarbha: Shalabh Shrivastava (Captain), Amol Ubarhande (wk), Hemang Badani, Faiz Fazal, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Akshay Wakhare, Ranjit Paradkar, Sumit Ruikar, Umesh Yadav, Amol Junghade, Akshay Kolhar, Urvesh Patel, Azhar Sheikh, Ravi Thakur. Coach: Sairaj Bahutule.
Karnataka: CM Gautam (capt & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Robin Uthappa, Lokesh Rahul, Kunal Kapoor, Manish Pandey, Ganesh Satish, Abhimanyu Mithun, Hosagivappa Shivalingaiah Sharath, Sreenath Aravind, Kotarangada Prabhu Appanna, Karun Nair, Ravikumar Samarth, Abrar Kazi, Ronit More. Coach: J Arun Kumar.
Umpires: Rohan Pandit, Rajesh Deshpande. Third Umpire: Sanjay Hazare.
THIS is the crucial stage before ‘half-time’ for Vidarbha. A demoralising defeat in their opener at the hands of Gujarat followed by a morale-boosting victory over Haryana and a tame draw against Odisha, Vidarbha Ranji Trophy team has tasted everything that could be served on platter, that too in their own den.
After the three mixed results, Vidarbha face a mighty Karnataka in their last outing at home from November 21 at Jamtha Stadium and they would love to make most of the home conditions.
It would be an interesting battle between the two sides as both have gained strength with arrival of their respective India players. Karnataka got a Robin Uthappa boost, who missed the first two games due to hamstring strain while India pacer Umesh Yadav is back after being a bench warmer during the two-Test Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series against the West Indies.
Uthappa showed no signs of discomfort in the nets on Wednesday as he batted for more than 25 minutes under the watchful eyes of coach J Arun Kumar.
For the hosts, Yadav’s return will give more power to their bowling attack. Yadav would be supported by in-form seamer Shrikant Wagh. The southpaw has so far taken 12 wickets from three games. Looking at the 22-yard strip, which hardly has any green on it, it seems Vidarbha would opt for an extra batsman. Yadav and Wagh would be the opening bowlers for sure with Amol Junghade likely to be the third
seamer.
Azhar Sheikh, who failed with both bat and ball against Odisha, in all probability, would lose his place.
Lanky spinner Akshay Wakhare, who took eight wickets against Haryana, is likely to be the specialist spinner along with Sumit Ruikar.
Opener Faiz Fazal, with a century under his belt against Odisha, is the highest scorer for Vidarbha in three matches with 303 runs. He will have a new opening partner in wicket-keeper Amol Ubarhande who, too, looked confident in the last two matches.
“Amol has done well and we would stick to the same opening pair,” said coach Sairaj Bahutule.
A lot would depend on professionals Hemang Badani and Rashmi Ranjan Parida. They had a forgettable start to their season but have shown what they are capable of in the next two games. Both scored half centuries in both innings against Haryana and Odisha.
“It’s good to have seniors like them (Badani and Parida). We three are experienced and are trying to give as much as we can to these youngsters,” remarked Bahutule.
As for Karnataka, it’s a big boost with India discard Uthappa coming back. But they would miss last game’s centurion Stuart Binny who has an injured right knee. With R Vinay Kumar doing India duties, Karnataka would be led by 27-year-old wicketkeeper Chidhambaram Muralidharen Gautam.
In first two matches, Mayank Agrawal impressed with a composed 90 in his debut game against Jharkhand.
They have a strong middle-order with Manish Pandey, Kunal Kapoor and Gautam himself in fine touch. The bowling department would be spearheaded by medium pacers Kotarangada Prabhu Appanna and S Aravind.
For Vidarbha, it all depends on how they take advantage of home conditions. The result of this game would evaluate where they stand at ‘half-time’.
Teams (from): Vidarbha: Shalabh Shrivastava (Captain), Amol Ubarhande (wk), Hemang Badani, Faiz Fazal, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Akshay Wakhare, Ranjit Paradkar, Sumit Ruikar, Umesh Yadav, Amol Junghade, Akshay Kolhar, Urvesh Patel, Azhar Sheikh, Ravi Thakur. Coach: Sairaj Bahutule.
Karnataka: CM Gautam (capt & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Robin Uthappa, Lokesh Rahul, Kunal Kapoor, Manish Pandey, Ganesh Satish, Abhimanyu Mithun, Hosagivappa Shivalingaiah Sharath, Sreenath Aravind, Kotarangada Prabhu Appanna, Karun Nair, Ravikumar Samarth, Abrar Kazi, Ronit More. Coach: J Arun Kumar.
Umpires: Rohan Pandit, Rajesh Deshpande. Third Umpire: Sanjay Hazare.
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