When we grew up –
Cricket was Ranji Trophy for the States, Deodhar / Duleep Trophy for the zones
and Irani Cup between the winner of Ranji Vs Rest of India – there was also
:Palayampatti shield for the 1st division in Chennai and .. MJ
Gopalan Trophy between Ceylon and Tamil Nadu !.. .. life was interesting.
Now there is –‘Vijay
Hazare Trophy’ , the Ranji One-Day Trophy, that was started in 2002–03 as a
limited-overs cricket domestic competition involving state teams from the Ranji
Trophy plates. It is named after the famous Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare.Tamil
Nadu is the most successful team having won the trophy 5 times. Mumbai are the
current champions(2018-19) who won their 3rd title beating Delhi in the finals.
The 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy, the
18th season is now on. Vijay Hazare
captained India in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th
Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to
its first ever Test cricket win in 1951–52 against England at Madras, winning
by an innings and eight runs in a match that began on the day that King George
VI died.
The
Panduvamshisdynasty ruled the historical
Mekala region in present-day Chhattisgarh state of India, during the 6th and
the 7th centuries. The Panduvamshi kings, who were Shaivites, claimed descent
from the legendary Pandavas and also claimed to be members of the lunar
dynasty. DakshinaKosala is a historical
region of central India, located in what
is now Chhattisgarh and parts of western Odisha. At its greatest extent, it may
have also included a part of the Vidarbha region in present-day Maharashtra. Its
capitals at various times included Bhadravati, Sirpur (ancient Shripura), Tuman
(ancient Tummana), and Ratanpur (ancient Ratnapura).
Chhattisgarh
(Chhattīsgaṛh,: Thirty-Six Forts) is one of the 28 states of India, located
in the centre-east of the country. It is the ninth-largest state in India, with
an area of 135,192 km2 (52,198 sq mi). A
resource-rich state, it is a source of electricity and steel for the country,
accounting for 15% of the total steel produced. The state was formed on 1 Nov
2000 by partitioning ten Chhattisgarhi and six Gondi speaking southeastern districts
of Madhya Pradesh. The capital city is Raipur.
Interestingly,
Chattisgarh too has a Cricket team – it began only recently playing in Indian domestic tournaments
including the Ranji Trophy from the 2016–17 season. The team is managed by
Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh which was granted the full-member status by
the Board of Control for Cricket in India in February 2016. Its Ranji Trophy
debut was against Tripura in 2016, which
they won easily.
Right
from the early days, Bombay has produced great batsmen –AjitWadekar, Sunil
Gavaskar, Ramnath Parkar, EknathSolkar, DilipVengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar,
Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and many many more – their winning
ways would look simple. Their batsmen would score huge scores and then bowlers
would stifle out the opposition.
Sri Mahavishnu temple at Jhanghir, Chattisgarh
Four runs needed,
four balls left. Chhattisgarh are on the verge of a historic first win against
Mumbai. Tushar Deshpande, Mumbai's fastest bowler, has been smacked inside-out
over cover for a boundary off the first ball. Ajay Mandal backs away to the
second and lofts a full delivery over long-off for six. The equation has
turned, from a seemingly tough 20 off seven balls. Mandal can see his
team-mates jumping in excitement in the distance. Amandeep Khare, the senior
partner, unbeaten on 117 at the other end, is quietly praying Mandal doesn't
lose his mind now.Mandal listened to his senior partner and they took two. Now,
with two runs needed and the field in, he chipped the ball over the infield and
they completed the double. First-ever win for
Chhattisgarh, over Vijay Hazare Trophy defending champions Mumbai. A
side they kept hearing about. A side that would often be discussed in meetings.
Khare
was part of the first-ever meeting when Chhattisgarh's Ranji Trophy squad was
assembled three years ago. The then coach Sulakshan Kulkarni had brought with
him a replica of the Ranji Trophy and asked his players to feel and touch it,
and take pictures and post it. Now, he remembers that very
moment as he plucks the stump out and runs towards the dressing room to
celebrate. This isn't a title win, but the euphoria feels like one.
"Alagwala high thayeh, log pagal ho gaye (This was a different kind of
high, the guys went mad)," Khare says. It was really their hour of birth,
beating such a big time – is an event, something that would be remembered for
ever.
A simple news trawl
on Google about Khare gives you very little. He's 22 years old, plays for
Chhattisgarh and isn't used to giving interviews. The fact is, he is the first
player from Chhattisgarh proper to play for India at any level - he was part of
the Under-19 World Cup team in 2016 - and has been part of the Duleep Trophy
and the Deodhar Trophy since.Incredibly, Khare and Mandal came together when
Chhattisgarh needed 96 off 58 balls. Khare wasn't thinking about the win yet,
but wanted to take the game into the last three overs. He had the belief that
even 40 runs could be scored off them. It's this belief, he says, that wasn't
there earlier, not until a couple of years ago.
~ and as a friend of mine put it, somebody else beating Mumbai too makes us feel happy .. ..
and that has a strong intonation of the dominance Bombay has had on Cricket in
India.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
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