Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal eyes back-to-back Ranji titles

DINDIGUL: Around eight months since the end of the last Ranji Trophy season, Vidarbha's fairytale run to the title remains a surprise to many regular observers of domestic cricket.
While their five-run victory in the semifinal over Karnataka needed a degree of fortune as is ever in the case in tight encounters, it was a campaign that rewarded them for sticking together as a unit and playing an aggressive brand of cricket.
Their dominance last season is reflected in the Duleep Trophy squads this season. In total, seven players from Vidarbha - Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare, Ganesh Satish (India Blue), Rajneesh Gurbani, Sanjay Ramaswamy, Akshay Wadkar (India Red) and Aditya Sarvate (India Green) - are taking part in the competition. Asked about their healthy representation in the Duleep Trophy, Vidarbha skipper Fazal said the players are proving their mettle.
"It is really good for these players to get this opportunity. We have got Umesh (Yadav) playing for the Test team. (Rajneesh) Gurbani has played for the India 'A' team. Sanjay Ramaswamy has also played for Board President's XI. What is good to see is that they are all performing at this level. Gurbani got seven-for and Sanjay got a hundred in the first game. It's a good sign," he assessed.
Instead of resting on their success last season, Fazal wants the same kind of hunger from his players for the upcoming season. "We played some good cricket last year to win both the Ranji and Irani Trophy. But that's history. It's all over. The challenge is to win it again. People call it a fairytale, but we had worked really hard for it. We were not lucky every time. We worked hard and that's why we got the rewards. There are good vibes around the team at the start of this season. We played positive cricket throughout the season and would like to continue that," said the 32-year-old.
As a veteran in first-class cricket with 99 appearances under his belt, the left-hander knows all too well the hard work involved in winning the Ranji Trophy. Can his group of players go on to do it back-to-back? "Now, we have the pressure, but we have to repeat the same things again and again. We must not get carried away with the highs from last year. Everything is back to zero now," added Fazal.