At the moment, Vidarbha is the talk of the town in Indian Cricket. Usually, when a Ranji Trophy finale Concludes, we watch Mumbai lifting that majestic, 15 kilo heavy trophy but that's not been the case for last two years. Last season, they did reach Finals but Parthiv Patel and party spoiled their fun. This year, they didn't even reach Semis. But Mumbai Cricket is in fine state, has always been and we should really talk about their nearest, northern neighbours 'Vidarbha'.
Vidarbha cricket has always been known for it's 'honest and hardworking' cricketers. They are known for giving their opposition a fight and scare but it's the finer margins they miss out on and thus lose matches. Their best result in Ranji Trophy's 83-year history, prior to this result, was reaching the QF last year. This year though, couple of things changed. Chandrakant Pandit, a veteran of Mumbai Cricket and a stalwart of Indian domestic cricket who has won so many Ranji Trophies for Mumbai as a player and coach, joined Vidarbha as their coach. Mumbai, as you might be aware of, is known as a 'Khadoos' team in domestic circuit. They like to grind their opposition out and since no one works as hard as them, almost every time opposition gives in. So Chandu brought 'Khadoosness' with him to Vidarbha ranks. He made the lives of Vidarbha players miserable. Day in and day out, everyone had to work hard. They went on with months and months of training before the Ranji season and hence when the season started, they begun it demolishing Punjab by an innings margin. A template was set.
Second good thing came out in guise of Waseem Jaffer. Jaffer, who might have played 100 test matches for India as an opener in another era of Indian Cricket, is the highest scorer in Ranji Trophy history and prior to his stint with Vidarbha as a 'professional player', won a whopping 8 Ranji Finals with Mumbai. He is a legend and gentleman cricketer par excellence. With his wealth of knowledge and experience, he worked on technique of Sanjay Ramaswami, the young Vidarbha opener and Sanjay flourished. He fought for Aditya Sarwate's place in Semifinals against Karnatka and Aditya along with Rajnish Gurbani made Karnatka bow out of competition. He wasn't in especially great touch coming into this finals but played a typical, back to the wall, Jafferesque innings of 76 in first innings to ease out nerves of young Vidarbha Middle order. Later on, when the ball got soft and Delhi seamers got tired, Akshay Wadkar (wk) and Aditya Thakare took full toll of them and weaved a mammoth partnership of 170+ runs that ultimately proved the deciding margin between two teams.
Along with these three players, some more stood out prominently. Rajneesh Gurbani, the young seamer, is a guy to watch out for in future. Great potential. Faiz Fazal, who last year, got a selection call for India selection is a veteran of 15 domestic seasons and currently the captain of Vidarbha. He led from the front and scored more than 900 runs this season. Sanjay Ramaswami is good for a long run in domestic cricket. Jaffer is almost 40 but will continue as a professional for them next season. Aditya Thakare made his debut in this finals and took his first wicket in form of Gautam Gambhir, no less. He is 19 years old, with height for more than 6 feet and the bounce he generates from the pitch is certainly heartening to see.
So as it happens, Vidarbha made the mockery of their 50 year and 260 matches old domestic cricket history and defied every expectations to win their Maiden Ranji Trophy. The very first day of 2018 provided us with fairytale finish of a cricket match!!!
Vidarbha cricket has always been known for it's 'honest and hardworking' cricketers. They are known for giving their opposition a fight and scare but it's the finer margins they miss out on and thus lose matches. Their best result in Ranji Trophy's 83-year history, prior to this result, was reaching the QF last year. This year though, couple of things changed. Chandrakant Pandit, a veteran of Mumbai Cricket and a stalwart of Indian domestic cricket who has won so many Ranji Trophies for Mumbai as a player and coach, joined Vidarbha as their coach. Mumbai, as you might be aware of, is known as a 'Khadoos' team in domestic circuit. They like to grind their opposition out and since no one works as hard as them, almost every time opposition gives in. So Chandu brought 'Khadoosness' with him to Vidarbha ranks. He made the lives of Vidarbha players miserable. Day in and day out, everyone had to work hard. They went on with months and months of training before the Ranji season and hence when the season started, they begun it demolishing Punjab by an innings margin. A template was set.
Second good thing came out in guise of Waseem Jaffer. Jaffer, who might have played 100 test matches for India as an opener in another era of Indian Cricket, is the highest scorer in Ranji Trophy history and prior to his stint with Vidarbha as a 'professional player', won a whopping 8 Ranji Finals with Mumbai. He is a legend and gentleman cricketer par excellence. With his wealth of knowledge and experience, he worked on technique of Sanjay Ramaswami, the young Vidarbha opener and Sanjay flourished. He fought for Aditya Sarwate's place in Semifinals against Karnatka and Aditya along with Rajnish Gurbani made Karnatka bow out of competition. He wasn't in especially great touch coming into this finals but played a typical, back to the wall, Jafferesque innings of 76 in first innings to ease out nerves of young Vidarbha Middle order. Later on, when the ball got soft and Delhi seamers got tired, Akshay Wadkar (wk) and Aditya Thakare took full toll of them and weaved a mammoth partnership of 170+ runs that ultimately proved the deciding margin between two teams.
Along with these three players, some more stood out prominently. Rajneesh Gurbani, the young seamer, is a guy to watch out for in future. Great potential. Faiz Fazal, who last year, got a selection call for India selection is a veteran of 15 domestic seasons and currently the captain of Vidarbha. He led from the front and scored more than 900 runs this season. Sanjay Ramaswami is good for a long run in domestic cricket. Jaffer is almost 40 but will continue as a professional for them next season. Aditya Thakare made his debut in this finals and took his first wicket in form of Gautam Gambhir, no less. He is 19 years old, with height for more than 6 feet and the bounce he generates from the pitch is certainly heartening to see.
So as it happens, Vidarbha made the mockery of their 50 year and 260 matches old domestic cricket history and defied every expectations to win their Maiden Ranji Trophy. The very first day of 2018 provided us with fairytale finish of a cricket match!!!
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