Gujarat and Jharkhand have given India’s First Class cricket a big image makeover, by reaching the upper echelons of the Ranji Trophy, and the two will lock horns at the old VCA Stadium at Civil Lines from New Year’s Day for a place in the final to be played at Indore.
For long the western India State has been on the periphery, powerless as it was to match the skills and other essentials required for a team to make an impact and stake a claim for the title.
Off and on, Gujarat has made its presence felt by excelling in limited over tournaments, contributing to the junior Indian teams and with an enterprising cricketer like Parthiv Patel making further headway by playing for the country.
Jharkhand’s case has been peculiar. Carved out of Bihar 16 years ago, it has given India the phenomenal Mahendra Singh Dhoni and thereafter Saurabh Tiwary and Ishan Kishan.
Rise in value quotient
The meteoric rise in the popularity of the game in these and other parts of the country has resulted in many young cricketers producing sensational performances that have raised the value quotient of the Ranji Trophy.
Gujarat, though it won only two matches in the league stage, saw its fortunes go up with its top order in Priyank Panchal and Samit Gohil and the middle order in Bhargav Merai, Parthiv and Manpreet Juneja scoring heavily in the league and the quarterfinal against Odhisha.
Compensation
Gujarat’s batting depth has largely compensated its thin bowling resources that is driven by seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Rush Kalaria and left-arm spinner in Hardik Patel.
Though R.P. Singh has played only three matches so far, skipper Parthiv Patel hinted that the former Uttar Pradesh seamer would be a sure shot selection for the semifinal.
Jharkhand, which won five league matches, topped Group ‘B’ with 39 points and scored an emphatic victory over Haryana in the quarterfinals, started its preparations on Thursday and practised for almost three hours on Saturday.
The East Zone side has plenty of flair to make the entertainment index rise; not even 19, left-hander Ishan Kishan has amassed 719 runs with three centuries and seasoned campaigner Ishant Jaggi has 760 with three centuries and as many half centuries.
Batsmen like captain Tiwary, Kaushal Singh and Virat Singh have the ability to make Jharkhand a real competitor against Gujarat’s seam attack.
While Jharkhand has the batting depth, it does seem to be short in the seam department, especially after Ashish Kumar suffered a hip fracture against Odhisha. In the circumstances, Tiwary would again rely on seamer Rahul Shukla and trusted left-arm spinner Shabhaz Nadeem (50 wickets) to deliver.
The pitch has tended to assist the seamers in recent times — Shardul Thakur, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ashoke Dinda bagged a plenty in the Mumbai-Bengal league match — and that would be lot of encouragement for the likes of Bumrah, R.P. Singh and Kalaria.
The teams (from):
Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (captain & wk), Priyank Panchal, Samit Gohil, Bhargav Merai, Manprit Juneja, Rujul Bhatt, Chirag Gandhi, Rush Kalaria, Mehul Patel, Karan Patel, Hardik Patel, Chintan Gala, Dhriv Raval, Jasprit Bumrah and Rudra Pratap Singh.
Jharkhand: Saurabh Tiwary (captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ishank Jaggi, Virat Singh, Anand Singh, Kaushal Singh, Pratyush Singh, Rahul Shukla, Jaskaran Singh, Ajay Yadav, Vikash Singh, Shabhaz Nadeem, Samar Quadri, Sunny Gupta, Sumit Kumar
Umpires: K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan and J. Madanagopal. Match Refeee: Narayanan Kutty .
