Ranji Trophy: Knockouts after shootouts

It has been a season of two halves for India’s premier home first-class event. The knockout matches of the Ranji Trophy shall be performed in Bengaluru from Monday, a few months after the league matches completed.

The Ranji Trophy has returned after a one-season break prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The rejigged format supplied solely three video games for each crew, with solely the table-toppers progressing to the knock-outs. The variety of video games compared to 2019-20 (the earlier Ranji version) was diminished from 169 video games to 65.

However, the curtailed season produced a number of shut contests. Those that readily come to thoughts embody 41-time winners Mumbai surviving a scare in opposition to Goa, Jharkhand’s 15-run and two-wicket wins in opposition to Delhi and Tamil Nadu respectively, Bengal chasing down 350 in opposition to Baroda after being bowled out for 88, and Uttar Pradesh chasing down 359 on the final day in opposition to Maharashtra. The groups have been going for the kill and it additionally confirmed the worth of a first-innings lead was diminishing.

Jharkhand vice-captain Virat Singh, who has been a part of two humdingers within the league stage, feels this format is extra thrilling as one can’t afford slip-ups.

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“With the curtailed season, you can’t go for the first-innings lead. Both teams need those six points, and it makes the match more competitive. You can’t afford to lower your guard,” Virat tells The Indian Express.

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For Bengal coach Arun Lal, the pruned season is sort of a poker sport, however hopes that Ranji Trophy will get again to its conventional format.

“This should be a one-off season. Three games are not enough to define that some teams are good while some are not. Teams like Delhi and Tamil Nadu failed to make it to the quarters. Does it mean that they were not good enough? If there had been a long season, we might have seen them turning around things. This curtailed season has been like playing poker. Even if you have won two games out of three, you can still fail to make the cut. Look at Kerala, they won two games comprehensively but one draw and they are not in the knock-outs,” says Lal.

“In the 2019-20 season, our last two league games against Rajasthan and Punjab were must-win matches. We won both the matches and then went on to play the final. In Ranji Trophy, you will always have exciting matches. Yes, there will be a few dull games too, but a longer season makes a cricketer. Look at the likes of (Rahul) Dravid (Rahul), VVS (Laxman), (Wasim)Jaffer, and most recently Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) and Mayank (Agarwal); they literally broke the door to get into the Indian side. The reason they scored heaps and heaps of runs was because of the longer season as it tests the mental strength of a cricketer,” added Lal, whose crew will face Jharkhand.

Player’s view

Punjab’s senior batsman Mandeep Singh, who’s the main scorer for his crew with 358 runs, says the pruned format had made the competitors extra thrilling, however on the identical time he hopes that is only a one-season change.

“I just wanted to play Ranji Trophy. So, I never gave a thought to the curtailed format. All the games are must-win, and it had certainly injected excitement. But in the larger picture, I hope this is just a one-season thing. I would prefer to go back to the older format because it tests you more, you get more matches under your belt, get to play on different surfaces, which check your technique as a batsman,” says Mandeep forward of the quarter-final in opposition to Madhya Pradesh.

“If I am not wrong, in the 2019-20 season, when I was Punjab captain, we got results in six games out of the eight we played.”

Close finishes within the league stage:

Nadeem’s trickery

Jharkhand skipper Virat Singh declared at 307/7, leaving Delhi with a goal of 335 in simply over two-and-a-half periods. Delhi’s Dhruv Shorey counter-attacked with 136, earlier than skilled spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (5/58 & 5/83) turned the tide and engineered a 15-run win.

Rinku’s masterclass

Maharashtra took a primary innings lead of 145 runs after which declared their second innings on 211-5, giving a goal of 359 for Uttar Pradesh on the ultimate day. Almas Shaukat (100) and Karan Sharma (116) placed on a 142-run stand for the third wicket. But it was Rinku Singh, whose 78 not out off 60 balls helped Uttar Pradesh chase down the goal in 70.1 overs.

Mumbai survive scare

The home giants have been bowled out for 163 runs. After conceding a 164-run first innings lead, Mumbai have been struggling at 208/7 earlier than Shams Mulani (50) and Tanush Kotian (98) placed on a 116-run stand. Mulani, who had bagged a six-fer within the first innings added 5 extra within the second as Goa have been bowled out for 112 runs.

Jharkhand rating an upset

Jharkhand common captain Saurabh Tiwary (58 & 93) was again after recovering from diarrhoea and led his crew to a frantic two-wicket win. Rahul Shukla (3/57 & 5/29) introduced Jharkhand again within the sport and likewise scored the profitable runs.

Fixtures

Bengal vs Jharkhand: Just Cricket Academy, Bengaluru

Mumbai vs Uttarakhand: KSCA Cricket Ground (2), Alur

Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh: KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur

Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh: KSCA Cricket Ground (3), Alur