Ranji Trophy: Ganesh starts season with responsible ton as Vidarbha reach 268-4 at stumps on Day 2

NAGPUR: Ganesh Satish normally doesn’t speak much. He is probably the quietest person in the Vidarbha squad. However, whenever Vidarbha were in crisis situation, he is the first one to put up his hand and let his bat do all the talking.


On Tuesday, the elegant right-hander once again showed his ability to score under pressure, scoring his 13th First Class ton to help Vidarbha take 57-run lead against Andhra in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A’ match.

Satish, who came at the fifth over over the day at the fall of Wasim Jaffer, remained unbeaten on 113 (240b;16x4) and had a 185-run stand with Mohit Kale (82;193b;9x4). The duo frustrated Andhra bowlers for 64 overs as Vidarbha ended Day 2 at 268-4 at Devineni Venkata Ramana Praneetha Ground in Mulapadu.

Unlike the opening day, the wicket was bit slow. It wasn’t easy for batsmen to play strokes straight away. It wasn’t a new situation for Satish. The 90-match experienced pro has bailed his team out of such tricky situations many times. It was no different on Tuesday.

Satish took his time when Andhra bowlers had their tails up after getting Vidarbha’s prolific duo Faiz Fazal and Wasim Jaffer in space of seven balls. If that wasn’t enough, the unfortunate run out of a well-settled Sanjay Ramaswamy made things even worse for the visitors. Left-arm seamer CV Stephen (26-6-76-3) was in in good rhythm after twin wickets of Faiz and Jaffer.

Vidarbha needed somebody to anchor the innings. Satish took that responsibility and did the job with perfection. Along with Kale, Satish showed immense discipline and intensity to thwart further damage. When the Andhra bowlers were on top in the first session, Satish and Kale rotated the strike well to unsettle them. In between, whenever they got the scoring opportunities. They accepted them gleefully.

Andhra had one opportunity to send Satish back when he was on 29. Left-armer Prithvi Raj induced the edge of Satosh’d bat. However, the fielder at first slip went half-heartedly to his right.

It was just a kind of luck Satish needed. He unfurled his range of strokes in the second session. His confident strokeplay on a tricky wicket rubbed on Kale, who also played some lovely shots.

Kale has been guilty of wasting start but this was a different day. He was determined to bat long and showed great application. The only time he erred was when he loosely drove Stephen only to edge the ball that went through the hands of second slip fielder.

Kale, Vidarbha’s Under-23 captain, didn’t last long after that. Stephen’s big incoming delivery from round the wicket trapped him in front but it was too high. Umpire P Jayapal thought otherwise and ruled in favour of the bowler. Satish and Akshay Wadkar then saw through the day without further damage.

SCOREBOARD

Andhra (1st Innings): 211
Vidarbha (1st Innings, overnight 26 for no loss ): Faiz Fazal c Bharat b Stephen 15, Sanjay Ramaswamy run out (Naren Reddy) 33, W Jaffer b Stephen 0, Ganesh Satish batting 113, Mohit Kale lbw b Stephen 82, Akshay Wadkar batting 9;

Extras: (b 12, lb 2, w 2) 16;Total: (4 Wkts, 97 Overs) 268;FoW: 1-34, 2-40, 3-61.

Bowling: Bandaru Ayyappa 22-5-64-0, CV Stephen 26-6-76-3, P Girinath Reddy 17-6-33-0, Y Prithvi Raj 20-5-40-0, D Naren Reddy 9-1-28-0, G Hanuma Vihari 3-0-13-0.