Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha look for revival

NAGPUR: When Vidarbha and Saurashtra met earlier this year, both had similar goals - semi-final berth. Both had a tremendous last season, where they topped their respective goals and were eyeing the Ranji Trophy.

Seven months later, things have changed drastically for both Vidarbha and Saurashtra. They are the two bottom placed teams in Group 'B', and when they meet in their sixth round at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi on Monday, their aim would be to record a victory and stay away from relegation.

With Karnataka (29 points) and Jharkhand (26 points) way ahead; Maharashtra (14 points), Delhi (12 points), Odisha (12 points) and Team Rajasthan (12 points) are still in contention for the third spot from Group 'B' for the knock-out berth. It's a do or die situation for Vidarbha (7 points) and Saurashtra (6 points). A win would give them some breathing space, while a loss would further worsen their position.

"In a way, there are quite a few similarities between Vidarbha and Saurashtra this season. Both started off their season brightly before losing their way. Vidarbha are a good competitive team. They have improved in leaps and bounds. As far as our team is concerned, we are not playing bad cricket. It's just that we have failed to seal some close matches," Saurashtra coach Sitanshu Kotak told TOI on Sunday.

Vidarbha also did a decent job in the first two matches before Jharkhand put them on the verge of defeat. They had two successive losses against Karnataka and Maharashtra. Saurashtra too lost their last in the last two matches against Jharkhand and Assam.

The batsmen of both sides are still struggling to put runs on the board, giving hardly anything to their bowlers to defend. Vidarbha brought in their latest import - Ambati Rayudu - to boost the struggling batting. It is still not sure whether Rayudu is fit enough to play. Besides, he is without match practice as he was under rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy. But his presence would give some psychological edge to Vidarbha.

Vidarbha middle order is going through a lean patch. If you take openers Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy out, there isn't much to talk about in the Vidarbha batting. Skipper Faiz would like to change that against Saurashtra. Jitesh Sharma can be destructive in the lower order but he is coming too early and had to change his game according to the situation.

Vidarbha bowlers have done well so far. The fast bowling duo of Shreekant Wagh and

Lalit Yadav

needs more support from their spinners and batsmen. Off spinner Akshay Wakhare is also going through a rough patch, while Ravi Jangid has hardly done anything with the bat and ball this season. Vidarbha are likely to bring in Rayudu in place of Jangid, if the batsman gets fit.