By Paritosh Pramanik
Oct 25, 2025
UNBEATEN in last 12 First Class matches, defending champions Vidarbha will walk into the Jamtha stadium as favourites when they take on Jharkhand in the second round of Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match starting Saturday.
In 10 Ranji matches last season, Vidarbha played seven league games, winning six and drawing one as they topped their group. They then went on to win the three knock-out games — quarters, semis and the final — to keep their slate clean.
The Akshay Wadkar-led side stretched its dominance with their third Irani Cup title earlier this month stamping their authority in the domestic circuit. The new season started well for Vidarbha as they registered an outright win in their opening fixture over minnows Nagaland at Centre of Excellence ground in Bengaluru to set the ball rolling.
The game against Jharkhand will be their first home match and Vidarbha will look to maintaining their winning run, despite missing the services of two premier bowlers in spinner Harsh Dubey and pacer Yash Thakur who both have been included in the India ‘A’ side for the four-day match against South Africa ‘A’.
With Vidarbha reeling on two spinners at home in most of the games, right-arm spinner Ganesh Bhosle might get a chance to make his debut.
The 24-year-old Akola bowler bowled in the nets on the eve of the match under the watchful eyes of coach Usman Ghani on Friday. “We will look at the pitch and the conditions tomorrow and then only will decide on the playing XI. But yes, he (Bhosle) will get a chance. I can’t say which match he will play and when,” Ghani told ‘The Hitavada’.
With Dubey on India ‘A’ duty, Parth Rekhade will spearhead the spin department likely in the company of Bhosle.
The pace department will be headed by Aditya Thakare who was rested in the opening game against Nagaland along with Thakur. Vidarbha have added seamer Shubham Kapse to the side as Thakur’s replacement.
It would be a toss-up between seamers Darshan Nalkande, Nachiket Bhute and Kapse for a place in the playing XI. The batting line-up is in tremendous form with opener Aman Mokhade hitting a huge 183 to cement his place in the XI. Atharva Taide will be aiming to get some big runs after his title-winning century against Rest of India in Irani Cup. Professional Dhurv Shorey, who hit a fine half century (64) and Yash Rathod (71) will continue to man the middle order along with captain Wadkar.
Newcomer Ravikumar Samarth will have to show his batting prowess after a five-ball three runs in the match against Nagaland. Vidarbha will definitely miss Dubey who is also a handy batter.
“We are happy for Dubey and Thakur getting India (A) call-up. Yes, we will miss them but it is also a good opportunity for other players to show their skills and grab the opportunity,” said coach Ghani, who has won all the three major domestic trophies including the Duleep trophy as a Central Zone coach. “We have a set of plans for different situations and we will play accordingly as per the situation,” he added.
Jharkhand, on the other hand, will also step into the field with confidence after their innings win over Tamil Nadu at Coimbatore.
It was captain Ishan Kishan’s 173-run knock which was instrumental in their innings and 114-run win.
The team would look to their captain for another big show.
Openers Shikhar Moon and Sharandeep Singh, who gave their side a good start will have to tackle Vidarbha pacers. Apart from wicketkeeper-batter Kishan, Jharkhand’s batting will revolve around Kumar Suraj, Virat Singh and Anukul Roy. Their bowling department will be manned by Jatin Pandey, the medium pacer who had a dream debut against Tamil Nadu with a fifer.
He will have in company seamer Sahil Raj, apart from Roy and Rishav Raj.
“Jharkhand is also coming into this match on the back of a win and they are a good side. We will definitely play our brand of cricket mixing aggression with caution depending upon the situation. It will be a good match,” concluded Ghani.
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