Can you
identify this Cricketer happily posting with legend MS Dhoni !!
At Whankhede, the finals of the premier tournament in India is now on .. .. and have you heard of – Akshay Wadkar ! - in recent times, we have seen wicket-keeper batsmen like, KL Rahul, Rishab Pant, Ishan Kishan, Dhruv Jhurel, Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma, Srikar Bharat, Narayan Jagadeesan, and more and in the galaxy, perhaps a prolific wicketkeeper-batter on the domestic circuit who captains one of the team in the finals is less heard !
It is Mumbai vs Vidarbha !! - both sides finished with five wins in seven league games to top their respective groups. Mumbai beat Tamil Nadu inside three days on a green-tinged deck at home, while Vidarbha overturned a first-innings deficit to beat MP and prevent a repeat of the 2021-22 final.
Vidarbha has come up via the "tougher route”- a team comprising unheralded players who toil away in anonymity most times, searching for corporate cricket gigs and club cricket stints in the UK during the off-season to ensure they are "cricket fit" when the domestic season comes around. A chance to play in the Ranji Trophy final for the first time since 2018-19 is as big as it can get. For most, it's the most important game of their careers. Vidarbha have seen the pressure – in the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh, they conceded an 82-run lead and then were effectively 79 for 5 in the second innings, before Yash Rathod and Akshay Wadkar, the captain, led a stunning turnaround with a 158-run sixth-wicket stand that set MP a target of 321.
At Whankhede after
bowling out mighty Mumbai for 224, they have faltered and at close of play
there were 31/3 – Dhruv Shorey and Karun Nair out for ducks, Aman Mokhade 8 –
twice rocked by Dhawal Kulkarni and once by Shardul Thakur. The Lord who played so well against TN rescued Mumbai again with the bat, after their star-studded middle order collapsed either side of lunch on
the first day of the Ranji Trophy final. Fast bowler Yash Thakur and rookie left-arm
fingerspinner Harsh Dubey had set Mumbai up for that collapse by sharing six
wickets on a grassy surface. Test
players, Captain Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer fell for 7 each, but Mumbai
waded past that passage of play and finished with a respectable 224, thanks to
Shardul's 37-ball half-century. Umesh Yadav eventually had him holing out for
75 off 69 balls to restrict them as Shardul was the last Mumbai batter out.
Shardul then struck with the new ball, as did Dhawal Kulkarni, who is playing his farewell game in place of the injured Mohit Avasthi, to leave the final dangling on a razor's edge. Vidarbha 31 for 3 at stumps, with Atharva Taide unbeaten on 21 and nightwatcher Aditya Thakare unbeaten on 0. .. .. and we expect Akshay Wadkar the Captain-wicketkeeper to rescue.
Vidarbha is the eastern region of Maharashtra state. Its former name is Berar (Varhad in Marathi). It was during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon that Berar was permanently ceded to the British by the Nizam. It was announced from Fort William that Berar had been administered by British under the treaties of 1853 and 1860 for meeting the expenses of the Hyderabad contingent, and any balance of revenue was to be handed over to the Nizam; but this arrangement had not worked satisfactorily.
Berar Province (Marathi: Varhāḍ), known also as the Hyderabad Assigned Districts, was a province of British India. The province, formerly ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, was administered by the British after 1853, although the Nizam retained formal sovereignty over the province. After 1903 the administration of the province was placed under the commissioner-general for the Central Provinces as the Berar Division. In 1936 with the establishment of the legislative assembly of the 'Central Provinces and Berar' the territory was renamed the Central Provinces and Berar.
Vidarbha is the eastern region of the state of Maharashtra, comprising Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Its former name is Berar. The largest city in Vidarbha is Nagpur. A majority of Vidarbhians speak Varhadi and Zadi dialects of Marathi. The Nagpur region is famous for growing oranges and cotton. Vidarbha has been plagued by poverty and malnutrition. In recent times, there have been calls for a separate state of Vidarbha, due to perceived neglect from the Government of Maharashtra and incompetent political leadership in Vidarbha. The living conditions of farmers in this region are poor compared to India as a whole. There have been farmers' suicides and economic turmoil.
Nagpur – is called city of Oranges. This major commercial and political centre of Vidarbha region is famous for oranges. Nagpur lies precisely at the center of the country with the Zero Mile Marker indicating the geographical center of India and houses the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Though their record has been outstanding, in recent times, it has not been so great. Mumbai won Ranji last time in (2015-16), Vidarbha won in 2017-18 and then retained it next year ! In Jan 2018 - Vidarbha won by 9 wickets beating Delhi. Vidarbha 547 (Wadkar 133, Sarwate 79, Jaffer 78, Saini 5-135) and 32 for 1 (Jaffer 17*) beat Delhi 295 (Shorey 145, Himmat 66, Gurbani 6-59) and 280 (Rana 64, Shorey 62, Wakhare 4-95, Sarwate 3-30)
Akshay Wadkar then scored a century – the list at the pavilion reads : Yash Rathod, Aditya Sarwate, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Harsh Dubey – and how many of them do you know !! Their main batsman Karun Nair is out for a duck. Karun Nair's 328 is the highest individual score in a Ranji final. Having won the title twice, back-to-back, with Karnataka between 2013 and 2015, with 616 runs in nine innings at 41.06, he is Vidarbha's highest run-scorer this season.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
11.3.2024
No comments:
Post a Comment