1. Home
  2. Ranji Trophy Quarter-finals: Uthappa, Thakur lead star performers

Ranji Trophy Quarter-finals: Uthappa, Thakur lead star performers

February 22, 2015

Feb 22: Maharashtra and Mumbai progressed to the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy semifinals with wins over Andhra and Delhi respectively, taking the season's tally of outright results to 54 in 112 games, while Karnataka and Tamil Nadu joined them because of their first-innings leads over Assam and Vidarbha respectively. R Samarth and Akhil Herwadkar, both youngsters, made headlines with the bat, and Shardul Thakur registered yet another five-wicket haul for the season.

UthappaWe look back at some of the highlights from the quarterfinals, which concluded on Friday (February 20).

Siva stands out in Andhra's loss

D Siva Kumar's match figures of 12 for 120, which made him only the second bowler this season after Assam's Swarupam Purkayastha to pick up ten or more wickets in a game twice and took him to the top of the wicket-taking charts, was not enough for Andhra to avoid a 75-run loss to Maharashtra in Lahli.

Another high five for Thakur

The game was the season's 19th finish in three days or less, with the match between Gujarat and Haryana in the league stages having gotten over in two days.

Mumbai's Shardul Thakur picked up five wickets in an innings for the fifth time this season in Delhi's first dig at DRIEMS College Ground in Tangi. Thakur's first for the season was against Railways, followed by similar returns against Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Baroda. Nilesh Kulkarni, the lanky left-arm spinner, was the last Mumbai bowler to have achieved so many five-wicket hauls in a season, and that was way back in 1996-97.

Thakur docked

Thakur picked up three wickets in the Delhi second innings to become the third bowler after Rishi Dhawan and Siva to touch the 40-wicket barrier this season, with Gautam Gambhir one of his scalps.

After dismissing Gambhir, though, he got into a verbal duel, which led to Gambhir approaching him with a semi-raised bat before the scene was diffused by the umpires and Suryakumar Yadav. While Gambhir was spared, Thakur was charged under Level 2.4 of the players' Code of Conduct and docked 50% of his match fee.

Herwadkar returns from cold

Akhil Herwadkar, part of the 2012 and 2014 Under-19 World Cup teams, returned from the cold after four seasons to record his maiden first-class century. He also stitched together Mumbai's first century stand of the season with Shreyas Iyer for either the first or second wickets and laid the foundation for the 204-run win over Delhi.

Mumbai 2 Delhi 0

Mumbai met Delhi at a neutral venue for the first time in the 1996-97 final in a day and night encounter at Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior when they prevailed on the basis of the first-innings lead in a high-scoring game. The latest win made it 2-0 for them at neutral venues.

Unmemorable landmark for Manhas

Mithun Manhas became the third player after Amol Muzumdar (136) and Rashmi Ranjan Parida (125) to play 125 Ranji Trophy matches, but he marked the occasion with a king pair. In Delhi's first innings against Mumbai, Manhas under edged Thakur to be caught behind, and in the second dig he feather-edged the same bowler to give Aditya Tare another simple catch behind the stumps.

More ducks

Swapnil Gugale, Maharashtra's opener, recorded a king pair as well, while Anupam Sanklecha and Samad Fallah, his team-mates, joined Punjab's Sandeep Sharma as the three other batsmen with five ducks against their name this season.

Another statement from Uthappa

Robin Uthappa's 153 and 77 against Assam made him the third batsman this season after Sheldon Jackson and Paras Dogra to go past the 800-run mark. With 840 runs, he is now at the top of the perch, and his feat comes after he had topped the charts at the 2013-14 Vijay Hazare Trophy and the 2014 Indian Premier League.

Samarth has arrived

R Samarth made a splash when he hit six centuries in Karnataka State Cricket Association's 2013-14 pre-season Safi Darashah tournament, but a settled top order meant that it took him time to break into the senior Karnataka team. Finally, when he got a long run, he proved his worth with consecutive daddy centuries. His 180 against Mumbai in the last league game was followed by a knock of 178 against Assam in Indore.

Lots of positives for Assam

If winning five matches and qualifying for the knockouts was not positive enough, Assam would have been pleased with their first double-century partnership of the season in their second innings against Karnataka after having been dismissed for 185 the first time around. Gokul Sharma made an unbeaten 127 and Arun Karthik chipped in with 94, the pair adding 203 runs for the fourth wicket in 46.1 overs.

South Zone v Tamil Nadu

S Badrinath and Ganesh Satish, two regular members of South Zone's Duleep Trophy team for a while, did not quite manage to get Vidarbha, who they now represent as professionals, past Tamil Nadu.

Badrinath, who represented Tamil Nadu in 85 games before deciding to captain Vidarbha this season, managed 40 and 0, while Ganesh, part of Karnataka's Ranji Trophy-winning team last season, registered a golden duck before remaining unbeaten on 59 when the game was called off.

Nervous nineties

M Vijay has been dismissed in the nineties on three occasions in Test matches, and nerves got the better of him against Vidarbha as well. Vijay made 96 before falling to Ravikumar Thakur. A little later, Ravi Jangid bowled B Indrajith three runs short of what would have been his second century.

There were no such nerves for Vijay Shankar, though, as he made 111 in Tamil Nadu's first-innings total of 403.

Srikar at the top

Srikar Bharat, the Andhra wicketkeeper who had become the second after KL Rahul to score a triple-century in the previous round, effected seven dismissals against Maharashtra to take his tally for the season to 46. He surpassed Baroda's Pinal Shah, who was the first gloveman this season to record 40 victims.

Debutants dry up

It was the first round this season that did not record a single debutant. The number of newcomers to the first-class circuit remains 92, 93 if we include Kuldeep Yadav, whose maiden appearance came for Central Zone against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

At the end of the quarterfinals

Highest run-getter: Robin Uthappa (Karnataka) - 840 from 9 matches

Highest wicket-taker: D Siva Kumar (Andhra) - 44 from 9 matches

Highest individual score: 337 - KL Rahul (Karnataka) v Uttar Pradesh

Best bowling figures in an innings: 8/29 - Swarupam Purkayastha (Assam) v Hyderabad

Best bowling figures in a match: 13/88 - Swarupam Purkayastha (Assam) v Hyderabad

Most dismissals for a wicketkeeper: Srikar Bharat (Andhra) - 46 from 9 matches

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 2,2020

Jul 2: Cricket Australia has decided to not use the Dukes ball from this summer's Sheffield Shield, having used it alongside Kookaburra for four seasons.

CA has confirmed that the Kookaburra ball will be used for the entire 2020-21 first-class season.

Australia has been using Dukes ball since the 2016-17 season in Shield matches with an aim to help its cricketers prepare for the hostile English conditions.

CA's Head of Cricket Operations, Peter Roach, said the decision to axe the Dukes was the right call. "The introduction of the Dukes ball has been a worthwhile exercise, particularly in the lead up to overseas Ashes series where the Dukes is used so well by our English opponents," Roach said.

"We have been happy with how the ball has performed when used in Australian conditions over the past four seasons. We do, however, feel that reverting to one ball for 2020-21 will provide the consistent examination of our players over a full season that CA and the states are presently seeking. The Kookaburra is the ball used for international cricket in Australia and many parts of the world and we see benefits this season of maximising our use of it," he added.

Roach said the ineffectiveness of spinners in first-class cricket in recent times played a role in CA's decision to do away with the Dukes. "We have noted that spin bowlers in the Sheffield Shield have been playing less of a role in recent seasons, most notably in games when the Dukes ball is in use. We need spinners bowling in first-class cricket and we need our batters facing spin. We hope that the change to one ball will have a positive benefit here," he said.

The CA official, however, didn't rule out the possibility of re-introducing it later.

"We see a definite opportunity to reintroduce the Dukes ball at some stage in the future."

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: Chennai Super Kings have rejected the idea of an IPL with only Indian players in the near future, differing with Rajasthan Royals, the franchise which is keen on the option given the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IPL, which is indefinitely postponed, can be held in the September-October window if the scheduled T20 World Cup in Australia doesn't take place.

"CSK is not keen to do an IPL with only Indian players. That way it would be playing another Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (domestic T20 competition). The franchise has not been in touch with the BCCI of late as the situation is worsening," a CSK source said on conditions of anonymity.

"Let's hope we can have the IPL later this year," he added.

CSK are three-time IPL champions, making them the second most successful team in the event's history after Mumbai Indians, who have won the tournament four times.

The BCCI is also very keen to stage the IPL and if it doesn't happen, the world's richest board would be in financial trouble like Cricket Australia.

"The board will take a revenue hit of Rs 4000 crore if it doesn't happen. The board will be in a big problem," BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal said earlier this week.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in India, the board and IPL team officials see little point in discussing when the event can be held.

"There has been no discussion with the BCCI ever since it postponed the IPL. There is no point in discussing also as things are unlikely to be okay anytime soon," the CSK source said.

"We expect the BCCI to take the best possible decision when the time comes," he added.

For the IPL to happen with foreign players, travel restrictions, which are currently in place, will have to be eased.

There is an option of conducting the IPL outside India and Sri Lanka Cricket has even offered to host the biggest T20 league in the world.

M S Dhoni was expected to make a much-awaited comeback with the IPL but that too has been postponed indefinitely.

Teammates like Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla have already spoken about how eager Dhoni was to return.

According to them, Dhoni had the determination of a youngster before the league was suspended due to the lockdown imposed to contain the pandemic.

"Dhoni is his own man but I see him playing the IPL for at least two three years. When it comes to playing for India, only he knows best," the source added.

Last month, Rajasthan Royals executive chairman Ranjit Barthakur had said the franchise was open to a shortened IPL with only Indian players.

"Earlier we could not think of an Indians-only IPL but now there is enough quality to choose from. It is better to have an Indians-only IPL than not have it at all," he had told news agency.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 13,2020

Mumbai, Jun 13: Vasant Raiji, who was India's oldest first-class cricketer at 100, died in Mumbai in the wee hours of Saturday.

Raiji was 100 years old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

"He (Raiji) passed away at 2.20 am in his sleep at his residence in Walkeshwar in South Mumbai due to old-age," his son-in-law Sudarshan Nanavati told PTI.

Raiji, a right-handed batsman, played nine first-class matches in the 1940s, scoring 277 runs with 68 being his highest score.

He made his debut for a Cricket Club of India team that played Central Provinces and Berar in Nagpur in 1939.

His Mumbai debut happened in 1941 when the team played Western India under the leadership of Vijay Merchant.

Raiji, also a cricket historian and chartered accountant, was 13 when India played its first Test match at the Bombay Gymkhana in South Mumbai.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and former Australian skipper Steve Waugh had paid a courtesy visit to Raiji at his residence in January when he had turned 100.

It has been learnt that the cremation will take place at the Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai on Saturday afternoon.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.