Team bonding helping Vidarbha colts this season

NAGPUR: Taking a cue from the success of their Ranji Trophy team, Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) is adopting a similar approach for their Under-19 team, which is in the semifinal of the Cooch Behar Trophy. Vidarbha defeated a well-balanced Karnataka-who were going through a great run-in the quarterfinal last week and will now face Punjab next for the place in the final.
The Under-19 boys-including the city players-are staying together after the league phase got over in the first week of January. The idea was to build bond within the team. It was vice-president Prashant Vaidya's decision to keep the boys together. "One of the reasons of Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy success was the team bonding. Ever since Chandrakant Pandit became the coach, he made boys to stay together, enjoy together and help each other out. His philosophy was simple-team comes first," a VCA source told TOI.
Pandit had formed various committees within the team which would look after different things. The idea was to have everyone's involvement. There were food committee, entertainment committee and also a travel committee. Skipper Faiz Fazal was the head of the food committee and he had three members with him. He would book tables, ask for menu cards and then inform the team when and where to gather. The idea was to ease the pressure on the manager.
Allrounder Karn Sharma headed the entertainment committee. They were in-charge of leisure activities. The travel committee members would take care of hotel check-ins and other things during tours. Since, the results were extra ordinary, Vaidya picked the points that could be followed by Under-19 team as well.
"We realized boys are gelling well together when they are on tour. Vaidya wanted them to remain focused so he discussed it with coach Usman Ghani and the whole team. They had no problem. They were ready to do anything for team's cause," the source said.
It worked in the quarterfinal. Karnataka was a dangerous side but Vidarbha put up a clinical performance and outplayed them in all the departments. "They are still together. We want to keep away from distractions. When you go home, there is something or other which did not help players to stay focus," he said.
"They are enjoying each other's success and that's reason they have come so far. The boys take their meals together and watch some progammmes at Residential Academy mess as there are no televisions at rooms. The manager there ensures everyone goes to bed on time," he said.