Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha to play for pride

NAGPUR: If Vidarbha did well for the last two years and qualified for the knock-outs, the major reason was team effort. Their batsmen put runs on the board, bowlers hunted in pairs and, most importantly, fielders didn’t drop too many catches.
This year, however, has been different. Vidarbha batsmen have failed as a unit — only two hundreds were scored in the whole season.Bowlers have failed to produce inspirational spells—only three five wicket hauls in seven matches so far and fielders have dropped too many catches. The result is evident. With a match to go, Vidarbha are out of the knock-out race. However, they would be playing for pride against Pankaj Singh-led Team Rajasthan in the last Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ league match, which begins at Sports Complex, Greater Noida, on Wednesday.
With Assam already relegated to Group 'C', Vidarbha can heave a sigh of relief. They have 14 points in 7 matches as compared to Team Rajasthan's 12 in the same number of matches. They can play with a free mind. With One-dayers and Twenty20 coming, some players would be keen to prove themselves at this level.
Aditya Sarwate's return in the middle order would give Vidarbha a much-needed boost. Sarwate might replace allrounder Akshay Karnewar in the playing eleven. Karnewar, who played a big role in Vidarbha's success in shorter formats last year, was found wanting in his maiden First Class season. He has scored 96 in six innings and took just two wickets in four matches, which shows that the team management isn’t that confident about his bowling in the longer format.
The form of Ganesh Satish is also a worrying factor for Vidarbha. Satish was a big reason for Vidarbha's success for the last two seasons. This year, however, the Bengaluru lad has struggled with the bat after his hundred against Assam. Despite his struggle, Satish is the third highest run-scorer for Vidarbha after openers Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy. It clearly shows Vidarbha middle order struggles this season. Shalabh Shrivastava's breezy 62 on a green track in the last match against Delhi would give some confidence to the team management. However, Vidarbha need more from others.
Skipper Faiz would love to have more runs from other batsmen. Sanjay, on his return, has been impressive and just behind Faiz in the run chart. He has shown all the qualities required to be a good top order player. The openers have done their job more often than not but it’s the middle order which has let Vidarbha down.
It would be interesting to see whether they would continue with Siddhesh Wath as wicketkeeper. He had replaced an injured Jitesh Sharma. Siddhesh, who had an impressive run in his maiden Under-23 season, made his First Class debut against Delhi in the last match. He looked impressive during his brief stay and Vidarbha might be tempted to play both Wath and Sharma.
Much like Vidarbha, Rajasthan batsmen are also struggling to put runs on the board. They, too, have only two hundreds in seven matches so far and this has made skipper Pankaj's job all the more difficult. He is in great form with the ball, taking 36 wickets in 7 matches. Pankaj, who bowled brilliantly in Duleep Trophy at the same venue, would love to finish off the season with more wickets under his belt. He is still trying hard to make a comeback in the national side and a good outing here would further boost his chances.