Confident Chandigarh gear up for Ranji debut

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh team will take on Arunachal Pradesh at the Sector 16 cricket stadium in their maiden Ranji Trophy match on Monday in a dream that will be fulfilled after 40 years following the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) granting affiliation to the Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) a few months back.
As the boys went about their drill on the ground, one could gauge the level of enthusiasm as well as the hunger for success.
"Look at the side, guys like Manan Vohra, Bipul Sharma, Gurinder Singh, Shresth Nirmohi, Barinder Sran and Uday Kaul have played so many first-class matches," head coach and former player VRV Singh told TOI on the sidelines of Chandigarh's practice session.
"But yes, the boys are excited for their first match. We want to start our season on a positive note. We know the conditions well. It is a traditional Sector 16 wicket. There is a tinge of grass. So, it will help the fast bowlers in the morning but it looks like a batting wicket," added Singh, who too hails from the City Beautiful which has produced the likes of 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, and 2011 World Cup player of the tournament Yuvraj Singh, Ashok Malhotra, Yograj Singh, Chetan Sharma, Dinesh Mongia, Siddharth Kaul, Taniya Bhatia and Chandigarh's head coach Vikram Raj Vir Singh, popularly known as VRV.
All of them were forced to play for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states. That has changed, and Chandigarh team have proved they deserve to be in the top league, winning 10 matches out of 15 played in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali.
"We have shown we are no pushovers. We have defeated Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali," said VRV.
"The team has also gelled very well in a very short period of time. Give this team a couple of years and you will see the difference," he added.
Chandigarh's pace attack will be led by Barinder Sran, Shresth Nirmohi and Jaskaran Buttar, while veteran Bipul Sharma, Gurinder Singh and Arpit Pannu will be heading the spin department.
On the team combination, the former India international said: "We have got every base cover. Team is blended with youth and experience. We have got youngsters such as Arslan Khan and Raman Bishnoi, who are in the squad because of their solid performance in the U-23 level. Then we have got the experienced campaigners such as Uday Kaul and Bipul Sharma."
The head coach will have a sweet headache to choose between the two left-arm spinners in Bipul Sharma and Gurinder Singh. "I don't believe in the theory that one should pick only one left-arm spinner. If they are good then both should play."
They must be playing only their first match but VRV has set a goal for his team, which is to qualify for the elite group.
Squad: Manan Vohra (captain), Bipul Sharma (vice-captain), Anirudh Kanwar, Ankit Kaushik, Arpit Singh, Barinder Singh Sran, Gurinder Singh, Jaskarandeep Singh Buttar, Jaskaranvir Singh Sohi, Kunal Mahajan, Mohammad Arslan Khan, Raman Bishnoi, Shivam Bhambri, Shreshth Nirmohi, Uday Kaul