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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

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News Network
May 18,2020

Karachi, May 18: Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan believes it is at least five years too early to compare Virat Kohli and Babar Azam as the Indian skipper has proven himself in "every kind of situation" and the latter has not.

"Virat Kohli is far more experienced than Babar. He has at least five years more experience of top cricket and he is at the peak of his career," said Younis, Pakistan's leading run-getter in Tests.

"Kohli has far more exposure than Babar and he has been in every kind of situation and proven himself. No one gets 70 international centuries like that and this are proof of his class and abilities. He has scored runs in every situation and all opposition."

Younis said said Babar still has a long way to go.

"Babar has been in top cricket for just around five years. He has got a very impressive batting average across all three formats and he is getting better by the day.

"You see him batting and you can see he has got the same qualities that Kohli had at the start of his career."

Besides amassing 70 international hundreds, 31-year-old Kohli averages more than 50 in all three formats. The India skipper has scored more than 20,000 runs while 25-year-old Babar has 6680 runs across formats though the Pakistan limited overs skipper has played significantly lesser number of games.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Dhaka, Jun 20: Former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza on Saturday tested positive for coronavirus.

The skipper had gone for a coronavirus Test last week, and now his reports have come back as positive, ESPNCricinfo reported.

As per a report in ESPNCricinfo, it is not known how Mortaza contracted the virus.

Mashrafe, also a member of the parliament from Narail 2 constituency, had stepped down as the ODI captain of the country in March this year.

Covid-19 cases have crossed 1,00,000 mark in Bangladesh and the government is now planning area-wise lockdown.

Bangladesh was slated to face Sri Lanka in July in a three-Test series and the side would have later hosted New Zealand in August, but both series look unlikely now.

The Asia Cup, scheduled for September, is also uncertain due to the coronavirus.

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News Network
January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: The pitches in New Zealand have become a lot more batting-friendly over the years, says iconic former batsman Sachin Tendulkar, insisting that India have the “ammunition” to trouble the sprightly hosts during the upcoming series.

Tendulkar, who has been on a record five New Zealand tours since 1990, feels that from seaming tracks during his early trips years, the tracks became high-scoring hard ones during his last tour back in 2009.

“Of late, the Tests in New Zealand have been high scoring and surfaces have changed,” Tendulkar told PTI during an exclusive interview.

India will play five T20 Internationals, three ODIs and two Tests during the tour starting with the shortest format on January 24.

From 2002, when India played ODIs and Tests on green tops, to 2009, when India won only their second Test series in 32 years, Tendulkar has seen it all in New Zealand.

“I remember when we played in 2009, the Hamilton pitch was different compared to other pitches. Other pitches got harder (Wellington and Napier) but not Hamilton. It remained soft.

“But Napier became hard with passage of time (where Gautam Gambhir scored an epic match-saving 12-hour hundred in 2009). So, from my first tour (in 1990 till 2009), I realised pitches got harder with passage of time,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar is confident that the Indian bowling attack, spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, has the ammunition to put New Zealand in trouble.

“We have a good bowling attack with quality fast bowlers as well as spinners. I believe we have the ammunition to compete in New Zealand.”

However, in Wellington, Tendulkar wants the team to be well-prepared to counter the breeze factor.

“Wellington, I have played and it makes a huge difference if you are bowling with the wind or against the wind. The batsman needs to be judicious in the choice of which end he wants to attack, it is very important,” he said.

Tendulkar said he would prefer spinners to bowl against the breeze.

“...the seamers bowling against the strong breeze need to be smart. So I would prefer that if there is strong breeze, let the spinner bowl from that end and from the opposite end, the fast bowler bowls with the breeze behind him,” he said.

The maestro is confident that Rohit Sharma's white ball experience will hold him in good stead in the Tests as well, an assignment that has been kept for the last leg of the trip, which begins with five T20 Internationals from January 24.

“The challenge would be to go out and open in different conditions. I think Rohit had opened in New Zealand in ODIs and has been there quite a few times, he knows the conditions well. Eventually, Test cricket is Test cricket,” he said.

“But all depends on surfaces that they provide. If they provide green tops, then it's a challenge.”

There is no Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Deepak Chahar in limited-overs series but Tendulkar is not ready to press the panic button.

“Injuries are part and parcel of the game when you play and push your body to the limits.

“When you play for your country you need to give your best and while you give your best, you can get injured. That's okay,” he concluded.

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