Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Jharkhand Review

One of the weirdest campaigns in recent times. Jharkhand started with a bang, recording the highest ever total in Vijay Hazare Trophy (which got eclipsed a few days later) also recording the second biggest victory margin, then won a couple of close games and lost the penultimate one. On the last day, they were still in pole position to qualify but a meagre total was overhauled in spectacular fashion by Andhra, who qualified on net run rate basis. 

Here is a game by game summary of this weird campaign 
Game 1: Jharkhand 422/9 (50) beat Madhya Pradesh 98/10 (18.4) by 324 runs 
Highlights: Ishan Kishan 173 off 94 balls & 7 catches (equals Indian List A record), Virat Singh 68, Sumit Kumar 52, Anukul Roy 72, Varun Aaron 6/37 
List A Debut: Bal Krishna, Kumar Kushagra, Rajandeep Singh 
  • Jharkhand’s 422 was the highest score by an Indian domestic team breaking ironically Madhya Pradesh’s record. 
  • This was the second biggest victory margin by runs in a List A game. 
  • Ishan Kishan’s 5 catches off Varun Aaron also equalled the List A record for most bowler-fielder combination wickets in a single game. 
Game 2: Jharkhand 217/9 (50) beat Punjab 215/10 (45.5) by 2 runs 
Highlights: Utkarsh Singh 51, Shahbaz Nadeem 45* from No.9 and 2/36 

Game 3: Vidarbha 288/9 (50) lost to Jharkhand 294/7 (49/3) by 3 wickets 
Highlights: Vikash Singh 4/65, Kumar Doebrat 100, Rajandeep Singh 48* off 25 

Game 4: Tamil Nadu 266/7 (50) beat Jharkhand 199/9 (50) by 67 runs 
Highlights: Anukul Roy 3/41, Rahul Shukla 42* off 25 coming in at No.11 
  • Meanwhile Mumbai broke Jharkhand’s record a day before by scoring 457 against Puducherry 
Game 5: Jharkhand 139/10 (46.2) lost to Andhra 140/3 (9.5) by 7 wickets 

Tournament Stats 
Highest Scorers 
  1. Ishan Kishan 215 @ 43.00 with 1x100 
  2. Virat Singh 188 @ 37.60 with 1x50 
  3.  Anukul Roy 147 @ 29.40 with 1x50 
Top Innings: Ishan Kishan 173 vs Madhya Pradesh 
Most Wickets 
  1. Varun Aaron 9 @ 20.44 
  2. Bal Krishna 6 @ 27.60 
  3. Rahul Shukla 6 @ 29.67 
Best Bowling: Varun Aaron 6/37 vs Madhya Pradesh 
Player Count: 14 
List A Debuts: 3 

A tournament which opened with a bang ended in a hiding for the Jharkhand team. A helter-skelter chase by Andhra dropped them from the group toppers to 3rd place knocking them out of the tournament! Surprisingly no game for Saurabh Tiwary. 

Ishan Kishan’s fireworks on the opening day did secure him a maiden Indian callup. 

Lets see what’s next for the Jharkhand team.

Monday, March 1, 2021

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Bihar Review

BCCI managed to conduct the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy across 6 bio-secure bubbles. Given their previous performances, Bihar had moved out of the Plate group. And the step-up to the Elite level was too big a gap for the team. Bihar lost all their 5 games and were competitive in only one game against Odisha. 

Here is a game-by-game summary of the tournament 

Game 1: Bihar 189/10 (45.5) lost to Railways 190/0 (29) by 10 wickets 
Highlights: Anuj Raj 72 from No.9 
List A Debut: Anuj Raj, Akash Raj, Rahul Kumar, Shabbir Khan 

Game 2: Karnataka 354/3 (50) beat Bihar 87/10 (27.2) by 267 runs 

Game 3: Bihar 193/10 (46.1) lost to Uttar Pradesh 194/5 (28) by 5 wickets 
Highlights: Yashaswi Rishav 67 
List A Debut: Lakhan Raja, Rishav Raj, Yashasvi Rishav, Suraj Kashyap 
One unnamed Bihar player tested positive for Covid-19 prior to the game. 

Game 4: Bihar 255/7 (50) lost to Odisha 258/3 (48.1) by 7 wickets 
Highlights: Babul Kumar 78 
List A Debut: Apurva Anand 

Game 5: Bihar 148/10 (40.2) lost to Kerala 149/1 (8.5) by 9 wickets 
Highlights: Babul Kumar 64 
List A Debut: Vikash Patel 
Kerala went hammer and tongs to overhaul Bihar’s target! 

Tournament Stats 
Highest Scorers 
  1. Babul Kumar 181 @ 26.20 with 2x50s 
  2. Sakibul Gani 111 @ 22.20 
  3. Anuj Raj 104 @ 26.00 with 1x50 
Top Innings: Babul Kumar 78 vs Odisha 
Most Wickets 
  1. Ashutosh Aman 3 @ 63.00 
  2. Anuj Raj 3 @ 69.67 
  3. Rahul Kumar 2 @ 70.50 
Best Bowling: Ashutosh Aman 2/44 vs Uttar Pradesh 
Player Count: 18 
List A Debuts: 10 

So 5 straight losses and one covid positive result. Not too great a series. 

And now the team moves back into uncertainty as we do not know when the next fixture will come up!