Dubey overpowers Siraj after Hyderabad stifle Vidarbha on opening day of their ranji trophy match

 

 

 By Paritosh Pramanik

ALL-ROUNDER Harsh Dubey lit up what could have been a forgettable day for Vidarbha with a flurry of sixes and fours off India pacer Mohd Siraj as the hosts managed to post 190 in their first innings against Hyderabad in their last Ranji Trophy Group B match at VCA Civil Lines on Thursday.
In return, Hyderabad were 90 for two with Tanmay Agarwal (53*) and K Himateja (5) at the crease. Hyderabad still trail by 100 runs.
Agarwal continued his purple run in the competition completing his third half century with a boundary. The left-handed batter looked in complete ease negotiating Vidarbha pacers Yash Thakur and Aditya Thakare as well as spinners, Harsh Dubey and Akshay Wakhare.
However, the day belonged to Dubey (65) who walked in to bat when Vidarbha were reeling at 80 for six immediately after lunch.
And the southpaw took Hyderabad bowlers to cleaners completing his fifty in 41 deliveries, stitched with six fours and two sixes.
A sizable crowd walked into the stadium in anticipation that Siraj would fire in some lethal deliveries. He did. But the fans were entertained by Dubey who hit the premier India bowler for a four and three sixes. Dubey, who had hit a whirlwind 63 in Vijay Hazare final against Karnataka earlier this month, pulled Siraj with ease for a couple of sixes and even hit him straight over long on fence too. Siraj tried to intimidate Dubey with bouncers but to no avail. The Vidarbha batter faced 17 Siraj deliveries and collected 27 runs from it which had nine dot balls.
Dubey’s entertaining innings finally came to an end when he tried to clear the fine leg fence off a Siraj’s bouncer with an upper cut shot only to be caught brilliantly by a diving K Himateja.
But by that time Vidarbha were in a safe corridors with the scoreboard reading 177 for nine. Dubey and seamer Yash Thakur added 56 runs for ninth wicket in which Dubey’s share was of 48 runs.
Earlier, Hyderabad pacers wreaked havoc as they took lunch with five Vidarbha wickets for 76 runs. They bowled precisely and were disciplined in their line and length. Vidarbha had worst start to the day when they lost three wickets in the first hour itself. Dhruv Shorey got out for the first duck of the season and Atharva Taide’s (7) poor run with the bat continued.
There were high hopes from in-form batter Karun Nair (3) but he too perished early. Danish Malewar (13) hit a boundary with a pull shot but the very next delivery edged one to Rahul Buddhi at first slip. Debutant Parth Rekhade (23), steadied Vidarbha’s fall with a few boundaries initially to ease the pressure but gifted his wicket to Aniketh Reddy. At lunch, Vidarbha were 76-5. The fortunes after lunch did not change as Vidarbha lost Rathod trapped in front exposing Vidarbha’s tail. But Dubey was in no mood to surrender and took the mantle to take Vidarbha’s score past 150-run mark.
For Hyderabad, Siraj bowled tirelessly for 18 overs for the only wicket of Dubey. Captain Chama Milind was responsible for the wickets of both the openers -- Taide and Shorey. Rakshann Readdi and Aniketh Reddy were the other wicket takers for the visiting team.

Unbeaten Vid ready for Siraj challenge

Take on Hyderabad in their last Ranji Rrophy league game at home

By Paritosh Pramanik
Jan 30, 2025 (Nagpur)
They are the best in the business (Ranji Trophy) this season, topping the table with 34 points. Not a single team, barring Vidarbha, from the pack of 32, has that much of points in its kitty going into the final round of the Ranji Trophy which begins from Thursday.
Vidarbha, with five wins and a draw, are unstoppable, demolishing anything and everything which is coming their way. If they concede the lead in the first innings, the Akshay Wadkar-led side has it made it a point to bat 200 per cent better in the second essay and bury the opponents under the mountain of runs. This, they have done twice this season, first against Andhra in their season opener and a few days back against Rajasthan, to emerge victors.
Come Thursday, Vidarbha will walk into the field with their heads held high and shoulders strong enough to carry the expectations of fans and take on fourth placed Hyderabad in their Group B encounter at VCA Civil Lines ground. The presence of India pacer Mohd Siraj, who will be manning the bowling department of the visting team, will not affect the defending champions.
The batters know how to tackle the premier pacer of the country. “We are prepared for each and every player not only Siraj. Our batters know how to handle pacers as well as spinners. We are not targetting any single player from the opponent side,” Wadkar told ‘The Hitavada’.
The pitch will help the batters initially and will assist the spinners as the game progresses. “We are in late January. The pitch will help the batters early on but will assist the spinners as there is less grass on it,” said Wadkar after the day’s nets session.
Vidarbha top order has been firing in unison. To add to it, professional Karun Nair is in sublime form since his heroics in just concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. The home time will definitely want the former Karnataka player to bat in same vein.
“We want our top five batters to score big runs, not only Karun. We all know he is scoring the bulk of runs but at the same time, Athrav Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod have also scored runs heavily this season,” said captain Wadkar, who himself has two centuries and a half-century from 10 innings to his name.
The bowling department will be spearheaded by pacer Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute and Aditya Thakre with tournament’s highest wicket-taker (47) southpaw Harsh Dubey manning the spin department with veteran spinner Akshay Wakhare.
Hyderabad will bank on higest run getter this season Tanmay Agrawal who has scored 792 runs from 10 innings with three centuries and two fifties.
Vidarbha will aim to see the back of India player  Nitish Reddy as early as possible if they fancy any chance to dominate Hyderabad.
Skipper Wadkar assured that complecency will not creep in andy there won’t be any dip in intensity when they take the field.
“We know we are unbeaten and already qualified for the knock-outs. But we will play with same intensity the way we played our previous matches. We will go all out against Hyderabad,” Wadkar signed off.

 

Siraj confident of India winning CT

 

 

 By Paritosh Pramanik

WITH the dreaded pace bowling line-up including Jasprit Bumrah, fit-again Mohd Shami and Arshdeep Singh, India are the favourites to lift Champions Trophy next month, feels seamer Mohd Siraj.
The Hyderabad pacer Siraj, who was not included in the side, said that India will go all the distance and lift the coveted title in Dubai.
The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19.
“The brand of cricket which India is playing, I am sure we will lift the title,” Siraj said while talking with ‘The Hitavada’ at VCA Civil Lines ground where the Hyderabadi will be playing Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha.
Siraj said Mohd Shami returning from injury is the best news for the country.
“It is great that Shami is back from an injury lay-off. He was out of the team for more than a year. It is not easy for a pacer to make a comeback. He bowled well yesterday (against England in 3rd T20 at Rajkot). He has regained his fitness and he is bowling with precision. I think he will take a couple of games to come into the grove,” said Siraj who has taken 100 Test wickets.
Siraj was excluded from the Champions Trophy squad due to his ineffectiveness with the new ball. Captain Rohit Sharma had elaborated on the rationale behind choosing Arshdeep Singh over Siraj.
“The team required a bowler capable of delivering effectively in both the initial and death overs. Siraj’s impact diminishes when he does not bowl with the new ball,” Rohit had explained during the announcement of the Indian team.
However, Siraj is not sulking over his exclusion and said that when the captain has pointed something missing he would “definitely work on it.”
“If the captain has said something, he would have said that looking at the greater picture. As for myself, I want to improve myself in all departments, be it bowling, batting or fielding. I am working hard to get better in all departments,” he added.
On BCCI’s diktat that senior players should play domestic games for their States, Siraj said, “we all want to play domestic cricket but due to packed international calendar, it gets difficult to play everytime. We hardly get any rest. We recently returned from Australia playing five Tests. Our body also needs rest. The international calendar is very tight. All said and done, domestic cricket is very important if one wants to play for the country. And if a senior player plays for his states it boosts the confidence of junior players. So I think whenever possible, seniors should represent their States,” he signed off.