In Ranji semis first time, U’khand team trying to give best shot

Lucknow: Uttarakhand have reached the Ranji Trophy semi-finals for the first time since receiving BCCI affiliation in 2018. After defeating Jharkhand in the quarterfinals, they will face former champions Karnataka at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow from Sunday. Talking to TOI, Uttarakhand team head coach Manish Jha said, "After departure of previous coach Wasim Jaffer, I took over in 2021-22 and now, it's my 6th year with the team. Waseem Jaffer had been their coach for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I have guided them to success in knockouts in several formats. In my first year with them, there was no Ranji Trophy season, so I mentored them for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and they made it to the knockout rounds. After that, we made it to Ranji Trophy quarter-finals twice, and in their third attempt under my guidance, the team has made it to semifinals." Jha added, "Even when we made it to the knockouts in Vijay Hazare, I could see there was a lot of talent in the team and all they lacked was confidence. I spoke to the Uttarakhand cricket association secretary and told him that we needed to adopt a more accurate process of selection . We selected team players from 4-day matches for Ranji Trophy and for one-day we picked from among the one-day teams." Jha said he observed some complacency in the players. He added, "If someone scored 30 runs, they would become over confident about the next match, so I started holding them accountable and streamlined the process, to which players responded very well. They understood the strategy and were ready. We didn't have big names, but won matches with team spirit. We developed a belief system that we will all fight together and succeed" About the UP venue, he said, "Soil in Uttarakhand and UP is black and almost similar. We had proposed Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, but it didn't meet BCCI standards, so the BCCI shifted our match to Lucknow."Jha said "We defeated Karnataka in T20 earlier. It is only the performance on the match day that matters." On the quarterfinals victory, he said, "It was an emotional moment for us when we reached top 4. Now, it's our responsibility to play our best. We have continuously been debating why despite taking 40 wickets, our players are not being selected for the Duleep Trophy. This time our team's motto is to give our best."