After a long wait of 37 years a confident Rajasthan looks forward to lay its hands on the Ranji Trophy for the first time.
Looking at its display in the league and recent successful runs against Mumbai and Tamil Nadu in the knockout, the new generation Rajasthan cricketers are all set to make an ambitious attempt over five days to confront a resourceful opponent in Baroda and an infamous record in the title match of the National championship when it takes the field at the Moti Bagh Palace ground here on Tuesday.
Skilful bowlers
With two skilful new-ball operators who have cultivated the art of swing in the seasoned Pankaj Singh (41 wickets) and tyro Deepak Chahar (33 wickets), Rajasthan has the means to take advantage of the lateral-movement encouraging surface at the Palace ground.
The qualifier from the Plate League has the steady hands of the experienced professionals Aakash Chopra (695 runs) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (682 runs) and a handful of home-grown talents to rely upon and make the current season a memorable one.
The home side which won the final 10 years ago beating Railways, is equally determined to end the season on a high note.
There's palpable excitement and anxiety as the two teams, marshalled by their coaches, prepared at the practice facility on Monday morning.
IPL franchisees
While the players will be focused on the task in hand in pursuit of the silverware and the Rs. 2 crore prize money, a handful of them would not escape the attention of the 10 IPL franchises who, according to local officials, would be here from the first day of the match to look for the uncapped players.
Among the first visitors to the ground, at around 9 a.m., on Monday was Siddharth Mallya of the Royal Challengers, Bangalore (RCB); the purpose was to meet Ambati Rayudu.
Rajasthan's young batsman Ashok Menaria was in the news last year when RCB picked him for IPL 3. This time around, he's advanced a bit in his nascent first class career notching up centuries against Mumbai in the quarterfinals and Tamil Nadu in the semifinals.
He would be in the wish-list of the franchises. But the 20-year-old would be keen to play his part in his team's endeavour to win the title that would erase an annoying side of a Ranji Trophy folklore that saw Bombay beat Rajasthan in seven finals in the '60s.
A Rajasthan victory would delight Salim Durani, Rusi Surti and Kishan Rungta. They are the three surviving members of the powerhouse Rajasthan team that lost the first of the seven finals to Mumbai.
Rookie Deepak Chahar would be in the spotlight again. He began his first class career on November 1, 2010 with an eight for 10 spell against Hyderabad (bowled out for 21) and has since been a menace to batsmen.
Pankaj Singh and Chahar are bound to enjoy bowling at the Palace ground strip that Baroda coach Mukesh Narula says has always helped seam bowlers.
The home team with many first-season players will strive to sustain the intensity it has demonstrated so far. Kedar Devdhar, Rayudu and Pinal Shah are its key batsmen.
“Connor Williams (421 runs off 1268 balls in eight matches) will be crucial at the start. His role is defined and that's to anchor the innings,” said Narula
Final record
Baroda has played the finals eight times and won five (1942-43 against Hyderabad, 1946-47 against Holkar, 1949-50 against Holkar, 1957-58 against Services and 2000-01 against Railways).
Rajasthan has played the finals eight times: seven times against Bombay (1960-61, 61-62, 62-63, 63-64, 65-66, 66-67, 69-70) and once against Karnataka (1973-74).
The teams (from): Baroda: Pinal Shah (capt.), Connor Williams, Jaikishan Kolsawala, Kedar Devdhar, Ambati Rayudu, Rakesh Solanki, Ajitesh Argal, Jyot Chhaya, Murtuja Vahora, Sankalp Vohra, Bhargav Bhatt, Swapnil Singh, Abhijit Karambelkar, Aditya Waghmode, Sagar Mangalorkar.
Rajasthan: Hrishikesh Kanitkar (capt.), Aakash Chopra, Vineet Saxena, Rohit Jhalani, Pankaj Singh, Vaibhav Deshpande, Robin Bisht, Aashish Tibrewala, Sumeet Mathur, N. Doru, Ashok Menaria, Madhur Khatri, Gajendra Singh, Vivek Yadav, Manish Goyal, Deepak Chahar, Raman Chahar.
Umpires: Messrs: Shavir Tarapore and K. Hariharan.
