By Paritosh Pramanik
“THE Ranji Trophy runners-up tag is now a thing of the past. This is a new season and we have to start afresh,” was the to-the-point reply from Vidarbha coach Usman Ghani on the eve of home team’s opener against Andhra at Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Civil Lines ground.
Despite Ghani’s remarks, the defeat to Mumbai in the final last season will definitely stay in some corner of Vidarbha’s mind when they take the field on Friday and aim to go one step further than the 2023-24 season.
And the team is confident of once again dominating the scene with their all-round efforts.
Thursday morning witnessed Akshay Wadkar-led side sweating out hard for one last time before they take the field against last year’s quarter-finalists Andhra, which is led by previous season’s run-machine Ricky Bhui (902).
Vidarbha will look to starting their season on a positive note against Andhra against whom they have a better head to head record.
The teams have met thrice and Vidarbha have come out ‘winners’ on all two occasions, taking first innings lead.
The batting line-up looks strong with vice-captain Athrava Taide, Aman Mokhade, captain Wadkar, Akshay Karnewar, to name a few, having the ability to score big runs.
Vidarbha will be once again banking on professional Karun Nair who was instrumental in taking the team to the final last season with 690 runs under his belt. The only worry for Vidarbha in the opening game is the unavailability of indisposed Dhruv Shorey.
“Yes, we will miss him as he is not well. But we have other batters who can do the job,” Ghani said confidently.
The bowling department will be led by India pacer Umesh Yadav along with Aditya Thakre, Shubham Kapse, Nachiket Bhute.
Senior player Akshay Wakhare will take the care of spin department and it would be interesting to see how left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey performs after his stellar show against Mumbai in last year’s final where he captured the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, and Musheer Khan at Wankhede Stadium.
As for Andhra, they too are confident of a favourable start with skipper Bhui leading from the front. Bhui has scored a couple of centuries in the Duleep Trophy a couple of weeks back and has expressed his desire to carry that form. Their batting line-up is bolstered with the inclusion of KS Bharat and former captain Hanuma Vihari. Seamer K V Sasikanth and left-arm medium pacer Ch Setphen will be eager to strike early on a deck which may assits fast bowlers early in the match.
“The pitch looks good, hard. It would be interesting to see how the seamers take advantage of the overcast conditions. The first hour would be crucial,” Vidarbha coach Ghani stated.
With rains on the eve of the match, there is a slight possibility of a delayed start to the match on Friday. Though the centre pitch was well under cover, the concern would be the outfield which may force the umpires to start the game a few hours late.
Teams: Vidarbha: Akshay Wadkar (Captain & WK), Atharva Taide (Vice-Captain), Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Yash Kadam, Akshay Wakhare, Aditya Thakare, Shubham Kapse, Nachiket Bhute, Siddhesh Wath (WK), Praful Hinge, Danish Malewar, Umesh Yadav, Mandar Mahale, Karun Nair.
Andhra: Ricky Bhui (C), Shaikh Rasheed (vc), KS Bharat (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Maheep Kumar, Vamsi Krishna (wk), Abishek Reddy, KV Sasikanth, Ashwin Hebbar, CH Stephen, Satyanarayana Raju, A Lalith Mohan, G Manish, T Vijay, M Hemanth Reddy.
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