Bowlers make Chhattisgarh noticeable in 2016-17 Ranji season

RAIPUR: How does one inspire a bunch of novices to match wits with seasoned players in their debut First Class season? Former Mumbai player and coach Sulakshan Kulkarni found a unique way to do so. Just before the start of the season, he took a replica of the Ranji Trophy and made all the Chhattisgarh players have a feel of it. "I told them that in my 17 year First Class career, I had won this trophy four times as a player and once as a coach.I said that they needed to win this at least once in a life time and that should be the goal of any domestic player," Kulkarni told TOI.
An inspired Chhattisgarh began the season on a rousing note with a nine-wicket win over Tripura in their maiden First Class game. Though the Mohd Kaif led boys faltered along the way and ended up ninth among 10 teams in Group C, they have the distinction of being the top bowling side among all teams in the country. Chhattisgarh bagged 153 wickets in nine matches ahead of more established sides like Haryana (148) and Goa (145).
"It was due to the efforts of the support staff and bowling coach. Krishnakumar worked very diligently with all the bowlers. Most of the players didn't have any experience at this level as we had 18-19 debutants," Kulkarni said.
Krishnakumar may have been unorthodox in his methods but it paid off. "I would have an hour-and-a-half sessions for the each bowler. I believe that the more a bowler bowls, the better he becomes. It is not the usual pattern but fortunately for me the boys believed in me and blindly followed what I said," he said.
Time was of essence for the fielding coach but he made use of whatever opportunity he got to drill the boys thoroughly. "We didn't have much time with us. Hence, I worked on their basic and rectified the flaws. I helped them with the finer points on bowling on a line and length. The talent was there but they didn't have the experience as such. At this level, if a bowler doesn't keep the ball in the right areas, he is bound to be punished severely. Even during match days, I used the lunch breaks to work with the bowlers
"Another challenge that I faced was that the bowlers didn't have much pace. Hence, it was more important for them to bowl in the right areas. Pankaj Rao is a classic example of that," the former Rajasthan player said.
"This was my first year as a professional coach and I am happy with the way the boys responded and worked. They were eager learners and never complained about anything. I was not afraid to make minor changes even during the season and that helped," he added.
While the bowlers hogged the limelight the batsmen too were not far behind. "We had three guys scoring over 500 runs and another got 400 plus. Amandeep Khare, who got 703 runs, is just 19 years old," Kulkarni said.
Another aspect of Chhattisgarh's play this season was that they were aggressive in their approach. "I had told them that we play to win and not draw games. If you look at our games, we lost four matches which could have gone our way too. They were close affairs," the Mumbaikar said.
Krishnakumar felt that the injury to skipper Kaif hit the team hard. "Kaif was not able to play all the games and that disturbed the rhythm. We lacked his reliability in the middle-order. He is a different kind of captain, who loves to think out of the box," he said.
"What teams take four years to learn, these boys did it in a year. If they continue to learn and work hard I am sure that they will do much better in the next season," he added.
Top 5 bowling teams after group stage
1. Chhattisgarh 9 matches 153 wickets 56.68 average.
2. Haryana 9 matches 148 wickets 58.43 average.
3. Goa 9 matches 145 wickets 54.12 average
4. Jharkhand 8 matches 144 wickets 56.83 average
5. Andhra 9 matches 141 wickets 57.72 average.